Supreme Court rejects bid to set aside California ballots
On the eve of the election, the Supreme Court turned down the Trump administration's emergency request to make California separate up to 20,000 mail ballots from people it says are likely noncitizens.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request from President Donald Trump's administration to force California to set aside thousands of mail ballots ahead of Tuesday's midterm elections.
The Justice Department had asked the justices to step in after lower courts turned it down. It wanted California to separate up to 20,000 ballots cast by people the federal government identified as likely noncitizens, so the ballots could be reviewed before they were counted.
The court's order was a single line, unsigned and without an explanation, and no justice noted a dissent. That leaves the earlier lower-court rulings against the administration in place.
California officials had disputed the government's list, questioning whether it was accurate and warning that eligible citizens could be wrongly caught up in the effort. Only U.S. citizens may vote in federal elections, and states use their own checks to confirm voters' eligibility.
The ruling came amid a broader fight between the administration and state election officials over how ballots are handled. Trump has repeatedly raised claims of voter fraud, and on Monday he also questioned the vote in Alaska. Election officials in both parties have said there is no evidence of widespread fraud, and California is expected to count ballots under its usual rules, which can take several weeks to finish.
This summary is original reporting by tehworldnews, written after checking the facts against several major international news outlets and official statements.