The U.S. Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's emergency request to separate mail-in ballots from over 20,000 Californians, after the administration claimed these individuals might not be U.S. citizens.
On 2 Nov 2026 GMT+7, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an order denying President Donald Trump's administration's emergency petition to have California separate mail-in ballots of more than 20,000 people from other ballots, citing federal claims these individuals may not be U.S. citizens. This order came just one day before the U.S. midterm elections.
Reports indicated the court issued a brief single-sentence ruling without naming any justices or providing reasons, following the court's usual practice for urgent petitions.
Previously, the federal government alleged California's voter rolls included up to 190,000 illegally registered non-citizens, later lowering that number to 20,000, and filed an emergency court petition after early voting began, seeking to halt ballot distribution to these individuals.
The Supreme Court's decision followed a lower court's rejection of the U.S. Department of Justice's petition the prior week, with the same outcome again. One judge said the government's actions constituted a blatant interference with the election process just before voting day.
Earlier, D. John Sauer, the federal government's assistant attorney general, filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court, arguing that once questioned ballots are mixed with legitimate ones, they cannot be separated later. Similarly, District Judge David Carter denied the petition to seize ballots last week, siding with California's Democratic-led administration, which stated that the Justice Department's actions reflected an ongoing pattern of federal election interference.
A similar case occurred in neighboring Nevada, where the Trump administration claimed to have found 16,000 non-citizen voters. After investigation, that number dropped to 185, and ultimately none were found to be in violation. Several studies show that while election fraud occasionally occurs, it is extremely rare and does not affect overall election results.
Source: AFP