US appeals court again rejects bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots

A US appeals court has again rejected a Trump administration attempt to set aside 20,000 ballots in California, in a ruling issued less than four days before the November 3 midterm elections. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the request was unconstitutional and warned that it could disenfranchise eligible voters. The decision is the second rejection of the same effort in less than a week.

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The administration had argued that nearly 20,000 likely non-citizens received mail-in ballots in California and should be prevented from being counted. It filed suit against the state on October 15 over the disputed ballots. In its ruling, the majority said the consequence of the request would not be limited to ballot segregation, but could also lead to the cancellation of ballots and the removal of voters from the rolls.

Two judges formed the majority: Mark Bennett, appointed by Trump, and Gabriel Sanchez, appointed by Joe Biden. A third judge, Trump appointee Patrick Bumatay, dissented and described the administration's petition as a reasonable request. The ruling adds another layer of legal uncertainty to a dispute that has become part of the final days of the campaign.

The case matters because California is due to elect 52 members of the House of Representatives, and the state is a major Democratic stronghold. The administration's claims have also been challenged by officials in other states that received similar lists of alleged non-citizen voters. In Nevada, state authorities said in September that the list they received was inaccurate and that no names were correct, raising further questions about the broader effort.

Election fraud in the United States is rare, and non-citizen voting is also uncommon. The administration has nevertheless argued that the issue is significant enough to justify intervention in several states. California has been one of the main targets of that effort, and the latest ruling leaves the ballots in place while the election approaches.

What remains unclear is whether the administration will pursue further legal action before election day or how the dispute may affect public confidence in the vote. The court's ruling does not resolve the wider political fight over alleged non-citizen voting, which has already spread beyond California. The immediate focus now is on whether the ballots will be counted as scheduled and whether any further challenges are filed before November 3.

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