DOJ Seeks Court Sanctions Against Immigrant Group Over Ballot Data Review

The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal judge to sanction an immigrant rights group for questioning the accuracy of its voter fraud data. The request comes as the Justice Department continues a series of legal challenges ahead of the November midterm elections.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge James Boasberg granted the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA, access to federal government data on 20,000 alleged non-citizen voters. The access was conditional. CHIRLA agreed not to publicize individual names and to use the data solely to support its legal standing in the case.

CHIRLA analyzed the database and submitted a report to the court. The group found that 40% of the names on the DOJ list did not appear on state voter rolls. The examination also identified at least 22 likely naturalized citizens and thousands of other actual U.S. citizens on the government's list.

The Justice Department responded by seeking to have the case referred to the DOJ for a contempt of court investigation. In a court filing, the department argued that the report was irrelevant to the specific plaintiffs' standing. The DOJ stated that the report's political grandstanding about alleged inaccuracies affecting California voters generally had no relevance to whether the particular plaintiffs in this case have standing.

Alberto Lammers, a spokesman for the UCLA Voting Rights Project, which filed the case, defended the group's actions. He told AP that plaintiffs' counsel and their experts fully complied with the court's orders.

The legal dispute occurs as the DOJ attempts to withhold ballots in multiple states. The Justice Department asked a California district court judge to withhold 20,000 ballots over allegations of non-citizen voting. The judge ruled against the DOJ, stating that granting the request would disrupt the ongoing election and discount the votes of United States citizens.

In Washington state, the DOJ filed a separate lawsuit to withhold 400 ballots. A Washington election official found that several U.S. citizens were on the DOJ's list for that batch.

The DOJ has filed multiple lawsuits targeting ballots in the lead-up to the election. The department claims these actions protect the integrity of the vote. Critics argue the lawsuits create doubt in the results.

The current case focuses on whether CHIRLA adhered to the specific terms set by Judge Boasberg. The judge will decide whether to impose sanctions or continue the litigation on standing grounds.