Supreme Court Rejects Trump Request to Set Aside 20,000 California Ballots

The update

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s last-minute request to intervene in California’s midterm vote count and force officials to set aside 20,000 ballots. The Justice Department said the ballots may have been cast by non-citizens. The court issued a one-line order denying an injunction, leaving two lower-court rejections in place and ending the bid on the eve of the elections.

Why it matters

California officials said the federal list of 20,000 voters was riddled with inaccuracies and warned that eligible voters could be disenfranchised. The administration first demanded the ballots be sequestered last month, and Homeland Security officials later threatened county workers with criminal charges. The midterms will decide control of Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s second term, in the most populous US state, with 23 million registered voters and more than six million mail ballots already received.

What to watch

Counting will proceed under California’s existing procedures as voters head to the polls on Tuesday. Watch for any further federal challenges in other states, and for whether the disputed-list claims resurface after results are known.

Sources

• bbc.co.uk — confirms the one-line court order, the 20,000 ballots and the lower-court rejections
• theguardian.com — confirms the court refused to intervene hours after the request and that officials warned of disenfranchisement