California Governor Warns Judges to Be Ready if Federal Agents Move to Seize Ballots

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Saturday warned federal courts to be ready for potential attempts by President Donald Trump's administration to seize ballots during the upcoming midterm elections, Reuters reported. Newsom, a Democrat, sent the warning in a letter to federal judges as California's legal fight with the administration over election records entered a new round two days before Election Day.

The administration has demanded records from California as part of a criminal investigation into noncitizen voting, Reuters reported. On Friday, a U.S. appeals court rejected the administration's bid, potentially setting up a showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court, and separately a federal judge ordered the Justice Department to stop threatening to prosecute state and local election officials in California who refuse to comply with the administration's election-related demands. In his letter, Newsom wrote that the only reason to use search warrants would be to interfere in the state's "lawful counting of ballots and certifying the results of the election," Reuters reported.

The fight turns on who runs elections. The U.S. Constitution assigns the administration of elections to the states, Reuters noted, while the Trump administration has alleged that more than 20,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in California — a list the state and many experts have questioned, and the Justice Department has not said how many people on it have actually submitted ballots. California has said the assertions relied on "suspect data" and that complying would risk disenfranchising eligible voters. For Palm Beach County, where early voting ends Sunday and Election Day is Tuesday, the California case is the national version of the question underneath every local count this week: ballots are counted and certified by state and county officials, under court supervision when the process is challenged.