Supreme Court refuses Trump bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots

The US Supreme Court has rejected a Trump administration request to force California to set aside about 20,000 mail ballots cast by people the administration says may be noncitizens.

The court's brief, unsigned order on Monday, November 2, the day before the midterm elections, denied the Justice Department's request for an injunction. It came after lower courts, including a divided federal appeals court, had also refused.

The dispute

The administration says around 20,000 noncitizens may be registered to vote in California, based on a federal list of "likely" noncitizens. Local election officials dispute that claim.

In mid-October, the administration wrote to California's secretary of state and Los Angeles County election officials demanding that ballots from people on the list be set aside. California refused, and the administration went to court.

Only US citizens are allowed to vote in federal elections, and voters must attest to their citizenship when they register. Studies and audits in many states have found that noncitizen voting is extremely rare. Election officials and voting rights groups have warned that government lists of "likely" noncitizens often wrongly include citizens, particularly naturalised ones.

Reactions

The Justice Department said it was disappointed by the order. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the decision should put an end to the administration's attempts to disrupt the state's elections through emergency court orders.

Part of a wider pattern

The ruling is one of several court setbacks for the administration in the final days before the election. On Sunday, a federal judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska's Senate election if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses, and another judge ordered the administration to halt a pressure campaign against election officials.

What it means

California's ballots will be counted under the state's normal procedures. California, the most populous US state, has several competitive House races that could help decide control of Congress, and it typically takes days or weeks to finish counting its large volume of mail ballots.