BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — With less than a week until Election Day, Kern County is facing a new request from the Justice Department: set aside certain ballots while the federal government works to verify those voters' citizenship.
The Kern County Elections Department received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice asking the county to set aside certain ballots until the voters' citizenship can be verified.
I reached out to the Elections Department for a response.
"I have no comment on that at this time," Laura Cantu said.
Soon after, 23ABC obtained a copy of the letter from Cantu. It claims the county has 431, quote, "likely aliens" who are registered to vote.
The request, coming just days before the election, is drawing pushback from some local voters.
"I stand against it. I don't want them to do it. I want people to do it — to mail in their ballots because that's what they're trying to stop them from doing," Shirley Hill said.
Hill believes the DOJ is applying pressure on counties to make mail-in ballots harder for voters to cast their votes in.
Others hold a different opinion.
"I believe that only US citizens should be able to vote. Let's just be honest and take care of our voting system," Lupe Vaca said.
The county Elections Office says it is conducting a thorough legal review of the request in consultation with County Counsel and state election authorities to ensure full compliance with the law.
A federal judge in Los Angeles is considering arguments over whether California can be blocked from counting roughly 20,000 ballots connected to registered voters the federal government suspects may not be U.S. citizens.
With Election Day approaching, the question of whether these ballots should be set aside remains unresolved. I'll follow through as Kern County reviews the federal request and the legal battle continues.
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