洛杉矶 —— 上诉法院周一拒绝就加州选举官员能否计算约 2 万张、司法部指称属于非公民选民的选票作出裁决。
LOS ANGELES — An appeals court on Monday declined to rule on whether California elections officials can count roughly 20,000 ballots that the Justice Department alleges belongs to noncitizen voters.
这一决定让联邦政府与州政府官员将于周二在联邦地区法官面前再次就此事展开法律对决，使联邦政府只有一个极短的时间窗口，在 11 月 3 日大选前迫使加州隔离这些选票。
The decision sets the federal government and state officials up for another legal showdown on the matter on Tuesday in front of a federal district judge, giving the federal government a very short window to compel California to sequester votes before the Nov. 3 elections.
共和党政府于 10 月中旬起诉这个深蓝州的选举官员，指控他们未能在 48 小时内完成对一份名单的审查，该名单列出了据称可能是非公民的 2 万名州选民登记人。政府请求法官下令暂停计算这些选票，直到完成移民身份核查。
The Republican administration sued election officials in the heavily Democratic state in mid-October, accusing them of failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a list of 20,000 people it alleged were likely noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls. The administration asked the judge to stop the state from counting those ballots until immigration status checks could be completed.
在地区法官将听证会定于 10 月 27 日后，联邦政府向第九巡回上诉法院提起上诉，辩称需要更快的裁决以防止进一步计票。
After a district judge had scheduled an Oct. 27 hearing on the issue, the federal government appealed to the 9th Circuit Court, arguing that a faster decision was needed to prevent the further counting of votes.
但第九巡回法院三名法官中的两名周一驳回了该论点，写道，联邦政府“未给地区法院足够机会考虑”其最初要求隔离相关选票的请求。司法部未立即回复电子邮件置评请求。
But two of the three 9th Circuit Court judges rejected that argument on Monday, writing that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider” their initial request to sequester the ballots in question. The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to an emailed inquiry.