Feds subpoena LA county election staff before midterm vote

Three subpoenas were sent on Oct. 21 to employees of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder office. The documents order the staff to appear in court on Nov. 4, the day after the election.

The U.S. Justice Department issued the subpoenas through all four U.S. attorneys in California. A person familiar with the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation, confirmed the details. The subpoenas seek any records, documents, or communications regarding letters sent by federal officials in July and October. Those letters alleged the presence of noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls.

The requests also target the office’s methods for screening for unlawful voting by aliens and efforts to prevent noncitizen votes from being counted. Dean Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar, responded to the action by stating that threats and intimidation have no place in elections.

This legal escalation coincides with a court battle over up to 20,000 ballots the Trump administration suspects went to noncitizens. U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rejected the federal government’s request to set those ballots aside on Tuesday. On Thursday, Carter appointed special master Daniel B. Garrie to develop the factual record for the court.

Carter noted that both sides agreed the federal list of over 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters includes an unspecified number of citizens. He expressed concern that separating the ballots would risk disenfranchising citizens and wreak havoc on the certification process. The state argues it cannot logistically separate the ballots in time for the county certification deadline on Dec. 3.

The Trump administration filed with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday, asking for a quick ruling. The Justice Department cited irreversible ballot processing occurring on an ongoing basis as the reason for urgency. Over 500,000 votes have already been processed in Los Angeles County alone, according to court filings. Once processed, votes cannot be traced back to the person who cast them.

President Donald Trump criticized Carter’s ruling on Thursday before heading to a campaign rally in South Carolina. He told reporters that California elections are extremely corrupt and that he would appeal the decision. Trump claimed there are millions of bad ballots in the state, a figure he amended from an earlier estimate of hundreds of thousands. Carter is scheduled to rule on the government’s renewed request for a preliminary injunction after a Nov. 13 evidentiary hearing.