АНУ-ын холбооны шүүгч Трампын засаг захиргаанаас ирүүлсэн иргэний харьяаллыг баталгаажуулаагүй сонгогчдын саналыг тусгаарлах хүсэлтийг хэрэгсэхгүй болгож, сонгуулийн үр дүнд эргэлзээ төрүүлэх оролдлогыг зогсоолоо.
АНУ-ын дүүргийн шүүгч Дэвид Картер сонгуулийн өмнөхөн гүйцэтгэх засаглалаас орон нутгийн сонгуулийн журмыг өөрчлөхийг шаардсан нь түүхэнд урьд өмнө гарч байгаагүй үйлдэл болохыг цохон тэмдэглэв. Хууль зүйн яамнаас Калифорни мужийн сонгуулийн байгууллагуудад 20,000 орчим иргэний харьяалалгүй хүмүүс сонгогчдын нэрсийн жагсаалтад орсон гэх мэдээллийг хүргүүлж, тэдний саналыг тусгаарлахыг шаардсан юм. Гэвч шүүгч Картер энэхүү шаардлага нь 1993 оны холбооны хуулийг зөрчиж болзошгүй бөгөөд сонгогчдын эрхэд халдсан үйлдэл гэж дүгнэжээ.
Хууль зүйн яам нь сонгуулийн байгууллагуудад жагсаалтыг 48 цагийн дотор шалгах үүрэг өгсөн боловч мэдээллийн эх сурвалж, аргачлалаа тодорхой болгоогүй байна. Лос-Анжелес зэрэг бүс нутгийн албаныхан уг жагсаалт нь алдаатай бөгөөд иргэдийн харьяаллыг сонгуулийн өдөр гэхэд баталгаажуулах боломжгүй гэж мэдэгджээ. Шүүгч Картер “тусгаарлагдсан санал гэдэг нь хүчингүй болсон саналтай адил” хэмээн үзэж, уг ажиллагааг ардчилсан үйл явцад заналхийлсэн үйлдэл хэмээн тодорхойлов.
Хууль зүйн яам энэхүү шийдвэрийг давж заалдаж, АНУ-ын давж заалдах шатны шүүхэд хандсан боловч шүүхээс 2:1 харьцаатайгаар яамыг дэмжээгүй байна. Үүний өмнө Дотоодын аюулгүй байдлын яам (DHS) 190,000 орчим иргэний харьяалалгүй хүн сонгогчдын нэрсийн жагсаалтад багтсан гэж мэдэгдсэн ч сонгуулийн санал хураалт эхэлсний дараа л холбогдох дэлгэрэнгүй мэдээллийг ирүүлсэн нь шүүмжлэл дагуулсан юм. Шүүгч Картер хэрэв гүйцэтгэх засаглал нотлогдоогүй үндэслэлээр сонгуулийн үйл явцыг боомилж, санал хураалтыг үгүйсгэвэл ардчилал аюулд орох болно гэдгийг хатуу анхааруулжээ.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
A federal judge declined to order California election officials to segregate and not count ballots from people the Trump administration claimed were non-citizens, rebuffing a legally thin request from the justice department that appeared designed to cast doubt over the results of the midterms.
The ruling from US district judge David Carter, nominated to the federal bench by Bill Clinton, comes about two weeks after the justice department delivered a USB drive to election officials in Los Angeles and Sacramento that it said contained the names of 20,000 non-citizens on the state’s voter rolls. There are more than 23 million registered voters in California and non-citizen voting is extremely rare.
“This case is about the right of every American citizen to vote in a free and fair election,” Carter wrote in his Wednesday evening ruling. “Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch.”
“In bringing this lawsuit, the Executive would have this Court believe that it reigns as a sole sovereign,” Carter continued. “But California and its people are sovereign, too.”
The justice department gave officials just 48 hours to review the list and said it would sue the state if officials did not sequester ballots from those whose citizenship it could not confirm. The department refused to provide more details about its methodology and Los Angeles officials found preliminary indicators the list was inaccurate. The justice department then sued California on 15 October to try and force the state to sequester the ballots and verify citizenship.
If the justice department’s request were granted, Carter wrote, it would likely violate a 1993 law that requires states to strike ineligible voters from its official lists no later than 90 days before an election.
California election officials have said they cannot verify the citizenship of those on the agency’s list before election day. Carter chastised the justice department’s directive as risking the disenfranchisement of thousands of voters. “A ballot segregated, in effect, would be a ballot removed,” Carter wrote.
The justice department separately has threatened to prosecute election officials in the state if they tabulate ballots from non-citizens. Such a move would be without a legal basis, Sam Trepel, a former prosecutor at the justice department, wrote in a blogpost this month. After filing the lawsuit, the Trump administration began providing lists to other counties of suspected non-citizen voters. When election officials began reviewing them, they found the department had flagged voters who were not on the rolls and had provided insufficient information to verify their citizenship status, according to CalMatters.
Carter’s ruling came after the justice department tried to bypass him entirely. After Carter set a 27 October hearing on the justice department’s emergency motion, the department took the unusual step of appealing to the US court of appeals for the ninth circuit, saying Carter was not considering the case fast enough. A panel of ninth circuit judges ruled 2-1 against the justice department earlier this week.
Legal experts have been skeptical about the justice department’s efforts in California since the outset. In July, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it had identified up to 190,000 non-citizens on California voter rolls. The DHS did not provide more details to the state until after ballots had already gone out in the state.
“Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable. Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger,” Carter wrote in his Wednesday opinion. “This Court declines to be a party to such process.”
Uwa Ede-Osifo contribued reporting
