Midterm Mail Ballots: Supreme Court Appeal Seeks to Hold 20,000 Votes

The Trump administration filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court on Monday, seeking to pause the processing of approximately 20,000 California mail ballots ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. The request follows an appeals court's decision to reject the government's earlier bid to set those specific ballots aside.

The Justice Department argues that the ballots belong to individuals suspected of not being U.S. citizens. Federal officials maintain that the votes should not be counted until voter status is verified. They asked the high court for a limited injunction to stop California from mixing these suspected ballots with verified legal ones while the legal battle continues.

California officials contest the federal list, describing it as highly unreliable. State leaders argue the list likely contains many eligible U.S. citizens. Voting has been underway in the state since early October, with hundreds of thousands of ballots already processed for the roughly 23 million registered voters.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter forcefully denied the Justice Department's initial request in lower court. Carter warned that segregating the ballots would wreak havoc on the election and erode public trust. He noted that allowing the executive branch to discount votes based on unproven allegations places the democracy in danger.

The administration has pursued this case with urgency, previously asking an appeals court to intervene early. While the Trump administration has secured recent wins in emergency Supreme Court appeals, the justices previously rejected an executive push to restrict mail ballots before this year's midterms.