US Supreme Court rejects Trump administration's request to cancel mail-in ballots in California

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a request filed by President Donald Trump’s administration to compel the state of California to cancel the mail-in ballots of more than 20,000 individuals, alleging they may not be U.S. citizens.

In a brief, unsigned order, the Supreme Court denied the request without providing any justification, just one day before the midterm elections.

The federal government had initially accused California of illegally registering 190,000 people on voter rolls, before reducing the number to 20,000 and filing an emergency petition after early voting began to prevent the state from mailing ballots to them.

Trump has spoken for months about potential fraud in the congressional midterm elections, amid expectations that Democrats are likely to win at least one of the two chambers.

Carter stated that “the Justice Department’s actions reflect a pattern of attempts to interfere in elections,” while Judge James Boasberg found that the lists of individuals suspected of not being citizens “are flawed.”

In a similar case in neighboring Nevada, the administration said it initially identified 16,000 non-American voters, but the number dropped to 185 after verification checks, and then to zero.

In another widely watched election case, a federal judge in Alaska rejected a request from the Trump administration to halt the certification of the state’s Senate election results if the Democratic candidate won.

The Justice Department had sought to block the certification if incumbent Republican Senator Dan Sullivan lost, arguing that another candidate with the same name may have siphoned off some votes.