LAs top federal prosecutor throws down the gauntlet as noncitizen voter fight goes down to the wire

Los Angeles federal prosecutor Bill Essayli is calling on California officials to use a federal citizenship database to verify voter eligibility after an appeals court rejected President Donald Trump administration’s effort to set aside roughly 20,000 ballots tied to suspected noncitizens.In a post on X, Essayli questioned why California could not use the same database it relies on to verify the citizenship of Medi-Cal applicants.“This debate over noncitizens on California’s voter rolls could be resolved in under a day if California simply used the same federal database it has relied on for 40 years to confirm Medi-Cal applicants’ citizenship,” Essayli wrote.The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now.

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Never miss a story He also claimed 34 other states already use the database to check voter eligibility and argued California could quickly submit its unredacted voter rolls for review.“California has raised no issues with this database for Medi-Cal, so why not use it to check voter eligibility,” he wrote.Essayli emphasized that noncitizens are prohibited from voting under both state and federal law, and said checking the voter rolls would help restore confidence in the election results.“What is California afraid of?” he asked.His comments came after the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a lower court’s decision rejecting the Justice Department’s emergency request to separate the disputed ballots.In a 2–1 ruling, the appeals court found that doing so could disrupt Tuesday’s midterm elections and potentially prevent eligible voters from having their votes counted.Trump also criticized the ruling Saturday, taking to Truth Social to defend Essayli and accuse the court of standing in the way of his administration’s efforts to address alleged election fraud...