US charges six more in California voter-fraud push as courts reject ballot suit
Federal prosecutors charged six green card holders over naturalization statements and voter registration, as courts rejected a bid to set aside 20,000 ballots.
The story in focus
The Justice Department's top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles announced Monday that six lawful permanent residents were charged with making false statements on naturalization applications, alleging unlawful voter registration. The charges coincide with the department's lawsuit seeking to set aside about 20,000 California ballots, which state officials dispute and multiple courts, including the Supreme Court on Monday, have rejected.
- Los Angeles federal prosecutor Bill Essayli said five of the six defendants had been arrested as of Monday.
- All six face one count each of making false statements on a naturalization application, carrying a maximum of five years in prison.
- The defendants come from Mexico, Israel, the Philippines, Canada and Iran, and are not charged specifically with fraudulent voting.
- State election officials called prosecutors' list and methodology unreliable; a rights group said over 40% of flagged names were not on state voter rolls.
- The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the administration's appeal in the ballot lawsuit, according to The Guardian.
What the charges allege
Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, announced Monday that six lawful permanent residents were charged with making false statements on naturalization applications. Court affidavits allege the defendants registered to vote unlawfully and later claimed on citizenship applications that they had never registered.
The defendants, originally from Mexico, Israel, the Philippines, Canada and Iran, each face a single count carrying a maximum of five years in prison, prosecutors said. Five had been arrested as of Monday, Essayli said. The complaints, written by Homeland Security agents, say the defendants cast ballots in recent years but they are not charged specifically with fraudulent voting. They have not been formally indicted.
Ballot lawsuit and court rulings
The arrests come as the Justice Department pursues a lawsuit to force California officials to set aside roughly 20,000 ballots prosecutors say may belong to noncitizens who registered fraudulently. State election leaders dispute the list and methodology as unreliable and say compliance mid-election would be logistically impossible and risk disenfranchising citizens.
Multiple judges have rejected the department's efforts, and the Supreme Court on Monday rejected the administration's appeal, The Guardian reported. Essayli argued the new cases support the push to halt counting. A federal judge on Friday also blocked the administration from threatening to prosecute election officials who process ballots.
Are the six new California defendants charged with voting fraudulently?
No. Each faces one count of making false statements on a naturalization application; affidavits allege unlawful registration and ballots cast in recent years, but prosecutors filed no charges specifically for fraudulent voting.
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