美司法部要求加州隔离涉非公民选票并提紧急上诉DOJ Demands California Counties Sequester Suspected Noncitizen Ballots and Files Emergency Appeal

美国司法部于周五向加利福尼亚州58个县中的57个县选举机构寄送了正式信函，洛杉矶县此前已于上周收到类似通报。联邦检察官要求各地选务主管在48小时内作出承诺，配合司法部和国土安全部逐一核查名单上涉嫌非公民人员的身份。司法部要求地方当局提交包括社会保障号、身份证明文件以及选民登记表副本在内的核心数据，以此评估受质疑人员的登记合法性。在发往内陆南部圣贝纳迪诺县的信件中，联邦官员附带了一份包含1133名被指“可能为非公民”的名单，要求该县立即指示工作人员隔离而非取消这些选民的邮寄选票。

The Department of Justice escalated its scrutiny on Friday by dispatching formal letters to election officials across 57 of California's 58 counties, following a similar demand sent to Los Angeles County last week. Federal prosecutors gave county registrars a 48-hour deadline to commit to cross-referencing voter rolls with both the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to determine who on the federal lists holds U.S. citizenship. To assist with rapid screening, the department asked counties to provide identifying records for flagged individuals, including Social Security numbers, identification information, and copies of voter registration forms. In San Bernardino County, prosecutors provided a targeted list of 1,133 individuals identified as suspected noncitizens and directed election workers to immediately segregate, rather than cancel, any vote-by-mail ballots linked to them.

负责加州中区事务的联邦第一助理检察官比尔·埃塞利在发给选务主管的信函中，阐明了计票官员潜在的刑事追责风险。埃塞利写道，非公民在联邦选举中投票属于联邦犯罪，明知而促成该行为同样构成违法；如果地方人员在未核实公民身份的情况下知情清点联邦机构列出的非公民选票，可能承担作为联邦犯罪帮助犯的法律责任。这一系列行政要求与刑事警告，使得联邦政府针对加州选民名单的筛查措施扩大到了全州绝大多数县级选务部门。

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned local election administrators that knowingly processing or counting ballots tied to noncitizens could lead to serious criminal consequences. In the letter sent to San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters Joani Finwall, Essayli asserted that voting by a noncitizen in a federal election constitutes a federal crime, and that intentionally facilitating or ignoring such conduct is equally unlawful, placing local officials at risk of becoming aiders and abettors. The wide distribution of these directives extends the Trump administration's contested voter-roll enforcement push across nearly the entire state.

司法部此前针对加利福尼亚州及洛杉矶县提起诉讼，要求阻止计入据称发给涉嫌非公民人员的2万多张邮寄选票。联邦第一助理检察官比尔·埃塞利表示，调查人员掌握的证据表明这些个人在10月收到了邮寄选票，并指出2万张只是该名单的基础底线。联邦政府要求当地选举部门在逐一核实这些选民的公民资格前，将相关已寄回选票单独存放，而非与正常选票一同处理。该案最初交由美国联邦地方法院法官戴维·卡特审理，法庭原定于下周二就此举行正式听证会。

The Justice Department's current administrative push builds directly upon a federal lawsuit filed against California and Los Angeles County seeking to halt the counting of vote-by-mail ballots linked to roughly 20,000 suspected noncitizens. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli previously asserted that investigators possess evidence confirming these individuals received mail-in ballots in October, describing the 20,000 figure as a baseline floor. Rather than outright disqualification, federal prosecutors requested that county election workers sequester any ballots returned by individuals on the list while their eligibility remains under review. The lawsuit was assigned to U.S. District Judge David Carter, who scheduled an initial hearing on the matter for Tuesday.

由于地方法院法官未在联邦政府要求的时间内作出预裁决，司法部由司法部长托德·布兰奇与埃塞利牵头，在周五向联邦第九巡回上诉法院提请紧急裁决，敦促上诉法院在周六前介入并下达阻止计票的指令。联邦政府在动议中主张，选举机构若在不隔离嫌疑选票的情况下继续计票，每过一分钟都会导致美国公民合法选票被不可逆转地稀释。联邦第九巡回上诉法院随后在周五晚间下发命令，要求加利福尼亚州当局在周六中午前对司法部的紧急请求作出正式答复。

Bypassing the district court after Judge Carter did not rule by a DOJ-requested deadline, the Justice Department, represented by Attorney General Todd Blanche and Essayli, filed an emergency motion with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday seeking immediate relief by Saturday. Government attorneys argued in their filing that every minute of vote processing that occurs without segregating the ballots of suspected ineligible voters causes untraceable disenfranchisement and dilution of legal votes cast by citizens. Late Friday, the Ninth Circuit ordered California officials to submit a formal response to the Trump administration's emergency filing by noon on Saturday.

面对司法部的行政要求与诉讼举措，加利福尼亚州选举官员与民主党议员表达了坚决反对。洛杉矶县选务主管迪恩·洛根此前在声明中回应称，维护准确的选民登记记录是其办公室的基本职责，联邦和州法律对于如何确立选民资格有着清晰规定，任何取消选民资格的行动都必须基于经核实的信息，而非未经证实的数据比对断言。加州州务卿希莉·韦伯办公室与洛杉矶县选务机构在此前收到附带名单的要求后，已明确拒绝在未获证实的情况下限制选民权利。

California election administrators and Democratic lawmakers mounted firm opposition to the Justice Department's demands and escalating court maneuvers. Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan emphasized in a formal statement that maintaining accurate registration records is a foundational duty governed strictly by established federal and state statutory frameworks. Logan insisted that any administrative step to remove an individual from voter rolls or restrict their eligibility must rest entirely on verifiable information rather than unconfirmed data matching. The stance follows an earlier directive delivered to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County involving a list of individuals federal officials characterized as suspected noncitizens.

加州当局在法庭诉讼文件中反驳称，联邦政府依赖的数据不可靠，其强制封存选票的要求存在剥夺合法公民投票权的实质风险，同时威胁拖延投票认证进度并削弱11月中期选举的公信力。民主党籍联邦参议员亚历克斯·帕迪利亚在周五晚间发表声明指出，司法部未就其宣称的大规模选举舞弊提供任何有效证据，且该部门指涉的数据本身缺乏准确性与可靠性。帕迪利亚强调，无论提起多少诉讼或对选举官员施加何种威胁，联邦当局均无权干涉地方正当选举程序。

In formal court filings, attorneys representing California argued that the federal government's underlying data is fundamentally unreliable, cautioning that sequestering ballots risks disenfranchising lawful citizens while disrupting vote certification and eroding public confidence in the midterm elections. Democratic Senator Alex Padilla also criticized the federal pressure on Friday night, asserting that the Justice Department failed to produce verifiable evidence of widespread voting fraud. Padilla said federal authorities are relying on inaccurate and unverified datasets, maintaining that no volume of litigation or warnings against local administrators grants the federal government the legal authority to interfere with lawful election administration.

司法部针对加利福尼亚州选民名单的审查行动，属于特朗普政府在中期选举临近之际排查非公民投票整体举措的一部分。尽管联邦政府持续强化对选民舞弊指控的追查，但历史统计数据显示，非美国公民非法参与投票的情况极为罕见、极难证实，且从未显示出足以改变选举结果的迹象。特朗普政府在全美范围内将重点对准了民主党占优势的加州，加州选务官员则重申现行法规已具备严格筛查机制，警告联邦机构未经证实的指控不仅缺乏客观事实支撑，而且威胁正常选举的公信力。

The Justice Department's demands against California voter rolls form part of a broader Trump administration effort to aggressively investigate alleged noncitizen voting ahead of the November midterm elections. While the federal government has doubled down on assertions of election fraud, established historical data demonstrates that illegal voting by non-U.S. citizens is exceedingly rare, difficult to substantiate, and has not been shown to alter the outcome of races. Despite these empirical baselines, the administration has placed particular focus on heavily Democratic California in its nationwide enforcement push, prompting state leaders to defend existing eligibility safeguards against unsubstantiated federal allegations.

加州的争议并非孤立事件，联邦司法部在其他州也展开了类似的法律对抗行动。在阿拉斯加州，特朗普政府已寻求在特定情形下阻止该州联邦参议院选举结果的官方认证，特别是如果共和党籍联邦参议员丹·沙利文在竞争中落败。随着民主党力图争夺参议院多数席位，阿拉斯加的选情受到密切关注。司法部接连在加州与阿拉斯加等多地开辟法律阵地，显示出联邦执法部门在中期选举计票前夕正对多州选举认证程序施加更为直接的干预。

The standoff in California parallels contentious election litigation in other jurisdictions across the country. In Alaska, the Trump administration has taken legal action seeking to block the certification of that state's U.S. Senate race under certain conditions if incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses his reelection bid. With Democrats closely watching the Alaska contest as they campaign to reclaim a Senate majority, the federal interventions across multiple states reflect an expanding Justice Department legal strategy to challenge local voting procedures and certification processes directly before midterms ballots are finalized.