Trump administration asks Supreme Court to sideline 20,000 disputed California mail ballots

President Donald Trump's administration filed an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court on Monday in an effort to exclude thousands of disputed California mail ballots from being counted on the eve of the critical midterm elections. The appeal was made after an appeals court declined to set aside around 20,000 ballots, suspected of not belonging to U.S. citizens.

The federal government maintains that these ballots should only be counted once the voters' citizenship status is confirmed. California officials, however, argue that the list is unreliable and probably includes numerous U.S. citizens. The Republican-led Trump administration has been emphasizing the verification of noncitizen voters this year, despite their rarity.

A district court judge rejected the Justice Department's request and warned that it could disenfranchise citizens who are participating in Tuesday's midterm elections to decide control of Congress. The Justice Department sought a limited injunction from the high court to direct California to separate these ballots from the valid ones before the case is resolved.

Once the challenged ballots are mixed with the legitimate ones, there is no way to retrieve the former, as stated by Solicitor General D. John Sauer.