JUDGE TORCHES DOJ BALLOT BID: And a California County Refuses to Play Along

A federal judge has rejected the Trump administration's attempt to temporarily stop California from counting mail-in ballots from voters the administration suspects are noncitizens.

In a 26-page order issued Wednesday, October 28, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter warned that the government's request would disrupt the election and could keep eligible voters from having their votes counted.

The Justice Department appealed the ruling the same day, seeking to block counting of the ballots until voters' citizenship could be verified, and asked a federal appeals court to rule by Friday, October 30. The outcome of that appeal was not confirmed in the sources checked for this story.

At the center of the fight is a federal list of more than 20,000 California voters the administration suspects may be noncitizens, including 1,355 voters in Riverside County. The Justice Department had given Riverside County 48 hours to agree to help verify those voters and hold their ballots.

Riverside County refused on Thursday, October 29, with County Counsel Minh C. Tran citing the judge's ruling and logistical impossibility, saying the election was already underway and the ballots could not be separated as requested. The judge also questioned the reliability of the federal voter list and noted that federal and California law already ban noncitizen voting and allow prosecution and removal of ineligible voters from the rolls.