Trump administration asks Supreme Court to set aside 20,000-plus California mail-in ballots

On Monday, 2 November 2026, the Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court to stop California from counting, or to require it to set aside, mail-in ballots from more than 20,000 voters it alleges are not US citizens. The request came one day before the US midterm elections.

The filing is an emergency request by the US Justice Department. The department wants the disputed ballots kept out of the count until each voter's citizenship status can be verified. A federal appeals court rejected the administration's request on Friday, before the case reached the Supreme Court.

According to Deutsche Welle and Al Jazeera, the US Department of Homeland Security compiled the list of voters at issue. Deutsche Welle reported that the federal government first sued over the allegations in mid-October.

US District Judge David Carter in Los Angeles rejected the request and raised concerns about the reliability of the list's data, according to both outlets. "If the Executive can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger," Carter wrote in his ruling, as quoted by Deutsche Welle.

At the Supreme Court, the department asked for a "limited injunction" directing California to "stop commingling suspected illegal ballots with legal ones" pending verification, according to Deutsche Welle. Al Jazeera reported that Justice Elena Kagan is handling the case and had not yet set a deadline for California to respond. It also reported that the court rejected an earlier effort to restrict mail-in voting in September.

Voting in California has been under way since early October. Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been processed, according to both outlets. Al Jazeera reported that ballots were mailed to around 23 million registered voters.

Deutsche Welle reported that last week a separate federal judge ordered the department to share its list with an immigrant rights group and a voting rights watchdog at the University of California, Los Angeles. An analysis presented in a legal filing found that thousands of US citizens on the list appear to have been flagged as ineligible without explanation, according to the same outlet. Studies, investigations and state audits have found that ineligible voting, including by noncitizens, is rare, according to both outlets.

What is disputed

California disputes the reliability of the list, saying it could include thousands of US citizens, according to Al Jazeera. The reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not describe how it was compiled or how many people on it have been independently verified as non-citizens. The reports also differ on the timing of Carter's ruling: Deutsche Welle says October, Al Jazeera says "last week".

What each side says

• Justice Department: Federal officials allege the more than 20,000 voters at issue are probably non-citizens, according to the South China Morning Post. Once the ballots are mixed with others, there would be no way to identify and remove them if the voters were later found ineligible, according to Al Jazeera.
• California: The list is unreliable and could include thousands of US citizens, and officials said separating the ballots would be nearly impossible, according to Al Jazeera. The state also said the process used to identify non-citizen voters was likely flawed, according to Deutsche Welle.
• Judge Carter: Singling out ballots would "wreak havoc" and harm voters' trust, according to Deutsche Welle.
• Governor Gavin Newsom: He has warned the administration against interfering and announced poll observers and a voter help line, according to Deutsche Welle.

Analysis

The key open question is timing. The reports reviewed by Vocemundi do not indicate whether the Supreme Court will rule before or during the 3 November vote. If it declines to act, the lower-court rulings stand and counting proceeds. If it grants some relief, California would face the practical question of separating ballots, which state officials describe as nearly impossible. Either outcome could shape how future disputes over voter-roll data are handled. The reports note that California is not expected to be competitive in the midterms, so the case may matter more as a legal precedent than for this election's results.

Produced by the Vocemundi newsroom with AI assistance.