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Judge rejects Trump administration bid to separate California mail ballots
A federal judge rejected the Trump administration's request to separate California mail ballots received from roughly 20,000 people it alleges are not U.S. citizens.
A federal judge on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration's attempt to make California election officials separate mail ballots received from roughly 20,000 people the administration claims are not U.S. citizens.
U.S. District Judge David Carter said the Justice Department's request to segregate and exclude more than 20,000 ballots violated longstanding constitutional principles that give states authority to administer their own elections.
Carter also questioned the reliability of the government's list. He described the methodology used to compile it as vague and said he could not conclude that the process was credible.
The judge said separating ballots from people the government believes are noncitizens until their citizenship could be verified would amount to a major change in election procedures while voting was already underway.
The Justice Department argued that California's refusal to separate the ballots risked diluting Americans' votes. Federal prosecutor Bill Essayli also argued that potentially mixing lawful ballots with those cast by alleged noncitizens undermined congressional efforts to protect election integrity.
The Justice Department plans to appeal the decision and seek an emergency order from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
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Politics ·
Trump administration asks Washington to set aside ballots over citizenship suspicions
The Trump administration asked Washington state on October 26, 2026, to set aside any ballots received from more than 400 people it suspects registered to vote without US citizenship.
In a letter to the Washington Secretary of State's Office, the Justice Department said it had identified 1,500 votes cast by over 400 people in previous elections. It requested that any ballots they cast in next month's midterm be set aside until state officials confirm their eligibility. Washington has more than 5 million registered voters.
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs was reviewing the demand. His office said it had received about 60 Justice Department subpoenas seeking voter information since last month.
Hobbs said his office would respond only to requests that follow due process, citing its responsibility to protect voter information. He also expressed concern that Washington residents could be harassed.
The Justice Department said it expected to send Washington another list of suspected noncitizens before Election Day. It also acknowledged that some people it suspects registered without citizenship may since have become naturalized.
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Appeals court rejects request to set aside disputed California ballots
A federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Justice Department's request that California set aside disputed ballots received in the midterm election. The department had sought a court order requiring the state to separate those ballots.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel decided the matter by a 2-1 vote.
The administration alleges that California sent ballots to about 20,000 people who may not be U.S. citizens and wants their ballots withheld from counting until citizenship is verified. California officials dispute the list's reliability and say it likely includes many U.S. citizens.
The appeals court agreed with the district court that separating particular individuals' ballots was not feasible without risking catastrophic consequences for the voting system. It said it found no clear error in that assessment.
Election officials say hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed. They say processed votes are fully anonymized, making it impossible to match them back to the voters who submitted them.
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