Judge Dismisses Challenge to Marin County, California Voter Rolls
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to remove hundreds of allegedly ineligible voters from the voter rolls in Marin County, California.
Judge Charles R. Bryer, a Clinton appointee, said the plaintiffs lacked standing and failed to state a claim in their complaint.
A group of seven voters filed a lawsuit in October 2024 against the Marin County registrar and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber (D) for allegedly failing to remove ineligible voters from the county’s voter rolls. Plaintiffs asserted without evidence that Marin County had mailed ballots to 994 ineligible voters for the 2024 general election, and that 142 ballots were expected to be returned.
The plaintiffs argued that the officials’ failure to remove voters who had moved out of state or were otherwise unqualified violated the 14th Amendment, the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act. They asked the court to order the defendants to remove ineligible voters from the rolls and implement a verification system to ensure ballots were only mailed to eligible voters for future elections. They also asked the court for a temporary restraining order to sequester ballots cast by supposedly ineligible voters in the 2024 election and to stop election officials from opening and processing those ballots.
Breyer denied the request for a temporary restraining order for lack of standing Nov. 4, 2024. He also indicated then that the plaintiffs’ claims were unlikely to succeed.
In January, the defendants moved to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the plaintiffs lacked standing and did not sufficiently allege a violation of any law.
Marin County voter roll maintenance processes will remain unchanged following Breyer’s Monday order.