Trump administration appeals to Supreme Court in push to sideline 20,000 California mail ballots

The Trump administration has filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, seeking to exclude approximately 20,000 disputed mail-in ballots from California from being counted in the upcoming midterm elections. This appeal follows a lower court's decision to reject the request to exclude around 20,000 ballots suspected of belonging to non-citizens.

The federal government contends that these ballots must be verified before they can be included in the official count, while California officials argue that the list of potential non-citizens is unreliable and may include many U.S. citizens. The Republican-led administration has placed a high priority on identifying non-citizen voters this year, even though such cases are uncommon.

A district court judge dismissed the Justice Department's request, emphasizing that such a move could potentially disenfranchise citizens in the November 3 midterm elections that will determine control of Congress. The Justice Department has requested the Supreme Court for a "limited injunction" to prevent California from mixing suspected illegal ballots with legal ones while the case continues.