Supreme Court rejects Trump’s request to stop California counting disputed votes

The US Supreme Court has turned down President Donald Trump's final effort to halt the counting of disputed ballots in California's recent midterm elections. The administration had requested that 20,000 votes, which they claimed were cast by non-US citizens, be excluded from the tally. However, two lower courts had already dismissed the request.

State election officials contended that the government's criteria for identifying non-citizens were flawed, arguing that it could result in the disenfranchisement of eligible voters. The Supreme Court's one-line decision on Monday stated that their request for an injunction was denied, effectively ending the administration's attempt to invalidate those ballots.

California, the nation's most populous state, had received over six million mail-in ballots as of Sunday night. The Department of Homeland Security had even delivered letters to county officials threatening criminal charges if they did not suspend those specific ballots. The Trump administration's actions are part of a long-standing effort to combat alleged voter fraud, despite evidence suggesting that such instances are extremely rare.

Lawyers for the administration maintained that allowing non-citizens to vote could "debase or dilute valid votes," but the appeals court disagreed, stating that California's election procedures should remain unaffected by federal intervention.