Trump administration asks Supreme Court to block California ballots ahead of midterms

The Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to temporarily prevent California from counting mail-in ballots from about 20,000 people it alleges are likely non-citizens and therefore ineligible to vote. The request, made a day before Tuesday's midterm elections, followed setbacks in two lower courts.

The California dispute and a separate lawsuit in Alaska illustrate the Justice Department's readiness to intervene before votes are counted, departing from decades of practice intended to avoid the appearance of partisan law enforcement. Democrats fear the challenges could become an effort to undermine confidence in the results. Trump made baseless fraud allegations after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden, and allied outside groups unsuccessfully brought more than 60 lawsuits challenging that defeat.

Control of both chambers of Congress is at stake. Republicans hold narrow majorities, and Democrats could take control by gaining a net four seats in each chamber. Voters are choosing representatives for all 435 House seats and roughly one-third of the Senate's 100 seats. California has 52 House seats, and its ballot count can take weeks, leaving some races potentially subject to recounts and litigation.

U.S. District Judge David Carter rejected the administration's California request on Oct. 28, criticizing its attempt to pressure state and local authorities into abandoning their election procedures. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also declined to block the ballots on Friday. California officials say the state has strong safeguards against non-citizen voting. Studies and state audits have repeatedly found that ineligible voting is rare and has not been shown to be part of an organized effort capable of changing a race.

An analysis by two members of UCLA's Voting Rights Project found that 8,880 names on the government's list, or 42 per cent, could not be matched to California's current voter file. The researchers also found that thousands of U.S. citizens appeared to have been identified as ineligible. They challenged the list in a lawsuit with the Los Angeles-based Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Because the list originated with the Department of Homeland Security, state officials and immigrant rights groups also fear it could serve as a pretext for deportation efforts.

In Alaska, the administration has promised to appeal after U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason dismissed its lawsuit on Sunday. The case followed a New York Times report that Democrat Mary Peltola's campaign helped recruit retired teacher Daniel J. Sullivan to run against Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. Trump said he directed the Justice Department to bring the case.

The department sought to stop certification and require an investigation if the winning margin indicated that confusion between the candidates could have affected the result. Gleason found that Alaska could not carry out such an inquiry while protecting ballot secrecy. Separately, the department has pledged to investigate whether laws were broken in getting the politically inexperienced challenger onto the ballot.

The Justice Department has also warned election officials in all 50 states of possible criminal prosecution for knowingly allowing non-citizens to remain registered or vote. It has lost several cases seeking state voter rolls containing sensitive personal information. A separate administration effort to restrict mail voting was rebuffed by the Supreme Court in September. NBC News's tracker showed more than 24 million mail-in ballots had been cast as of Monday.