Federal judge blocks Trump administration effort to invalidate California ballots

A federal judge rejected a Justice Department request on October 28, 2026, to remove around 20,000 mail ballots in California from the count. The government believed these ballots came from people who were not U.S. citizens. Judge David Carter said that forcing California to set aside the ballots would cause serious harm to an election already in progress. He also said it would frighten voters and election workers. Carter noted that the federal government had never before tried to make a state abandon its own election rules so close to an election. The Justice Department appealed the decision immediately. The midterm elections were scheduled for November 3, 2026. This was the second time in three days that the Justice Department had lost in this case.