US appeals court rejects Trump administration bid to block California ballot count

The dispute unfolded ahead of the November 3 midterm elections and centers on a list containing more than 20,000 registered voters. The federal government alleges that the voters are likely noncitizens, but the supplied reporting does not independently establish that status.

According to The Guardian, the Justice Department had told California counties to set aside and verify the affected ballots. The appeals court’s decision denied the administration’s effort to prevent the ballots from being counted.

The court was described in the reporting as the San Francisco-based Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals. Korea Herald reported that the ruling was decided by a 2-1 vote against the Trump administration; the vote breakdown was not included in the other supplied accounts.

Voting-rights activists expressed concern, according to the Times of India, that naturalized citizens could be misidentified as noncitizens. That concern adds to the dispute over how the federal list should be used in the handling of ballots, although the supplied material does not provide the court’s full legal reasoning.

The Guardian and Korea Herald characterized the ruling as a setback to the Trump administration’s effort to assert a greater federal role in election oversight. The supplied reports do not establish the final outcome of any further appeal or the exact number of ballots affected.