Federal Prosecutors Subpoena LA Election Workers as Judge Names Special Master
Subpoenas seek testimony Nov. 4, the day after the midterm vote, as a federal judge weighs claims about noncitizen ballots.
By Daphne Turner ·
The U.S. Department of Justice issued subpoenas Thursday to staff in the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder's office, calling them to testify on Nov. 4, the day after the midterm election. The Associated Press obtained copies of two subpoenas directed to employees of that office. A person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said the subpoenas were being issued by the four federal prosecutors in California.
The subpoenas landed as U.S. District Judge David O. Carter appointed a special master on Thursday to examine the Trump administration's claim that California's voter rolls contain roughly 20,000 noncitizens. Carter named Daniel B. Garrie to the role and said the court would task him with "collecting the evidence." Carter did not spell out the exact scope of Garrie's work.
The filing came one day after Carter rejected the Justice Department's demand that California hold back ballots pending citizenship checks. Carter wrote that the request violates the National Voter Registration Act, which bars changes to voter rolls or election procedures within 90 days of an election. Carter also said that separating ballots at this stage could endanger citizen voters' rights and disrupt the county's Dec. 3 certification deadline. He set a Nov. 13 evidentiary hearing at which Garrie will participate, and said he will rule then on the government's renewed bid for a preliminary injunction.
Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar, said, "Threats and intimidation have no place in elections." Court records show that more than 500,000 ballots have already been processed in Los Angeles County. Once a ballot is processed, the system does not link it back to the voter who cast it.
Trump administration lawyers asked the Ninth Circuit on Wednesday night for a prompt ruling on whether they may temporarily block California from counting ballots in dispute. The filing said a decision is needed because ballot processing "is occurring continuously." The department says it believes those ballots went to registered voters who are not U.S. citizens. Early voting has run for weeks in California, and millions have already cast ballots.
President Donald Trump criticized Carter's order Thursday morning before a campaign rally in South Carolina. "California is very corrupt. The elections are extremely corrupt. The judge should not have done that, but we will appeal, of course," he told reporters. He claimed, without evidence, that "hundreds of thousands" then "millions, in my opinion" of fraudulent ballots exist in the state. Federal prosecutors have charged more than two dozen foreign nationals in California in a statewide sweep targeting people who officials say registered or voted illegally.
Carter has said both sides agree the federal list of 20,000 names includes an undetermined number of U.S. citizens by mistake. The 20,000 entries make up a small share of California's 23 million voters. A three-judge panel previously declined to intervene before the lower court acted, but two of the three judges wrote separately that they would not support overturning votes at this stage. One judge dissented, writing that federal law bars noncitizens from voting and requires California to screen suspect ballots before counting them.
