AUS appeals court on October 26 ruled against President Donald Trump’s administration in a major voting dispute ahead of the midterm elections, denying a request to block California from counting mail ballots from people on a list of more than 20,000 registered voters the federal government alleges are likely noncitizens.
The 2-1 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals marked the latest setback in Trump’s efforts to assert a greater federal role in overseeing elections in the run-up to the November 3 midterms in which his fellow R e p u b l i c a n s are fighting to retain control of Congress.
The majority decision said the Justice Department had failed to give a lower court judge an adequate opportunity to consider the case, and therefore it would be premature for the appeals court to weigh in.
Circuit Judge Gabriel Sanchez, one of the two judges in the majority, wrote in a concurring opinion that the federal government “asks the federal court to dictate to a state legislature a matter squarely within the state’s traditional domain, upending the state’s policies in this regard and inviting disorder and confusion for voters and election officials alike.”
The lawsuit was an escalation in the Trump administration’s pressure on state election officials over alleged noncitizen voting and a rare intervention by the Justice Department in the voting process weeks before an election.
The California lawsuit was the first time the Trump administration sought to prevent a state from counting votes, though it did not indicate how many of the 20,000 people on its list had actually submitted a mail ballot.
Illegal voting
Justice Department officials said on October 19 that the 20,000 people included 28 who had been criminally charged with illegally voting. California is the most populous US state and a Democratic stronghold. It has more seats in the House of Representatives — 52 — than any other state. Democrats are seeking to regain control of the House from Trump’s fellow Republicans in the midterms.
$1 million for reporting fraud
President Donald Trump on October 26 said that he would provide $1 million to people who can report any instances of voter fraud that lead to an arrest or conviction.
“Anybody reporting Voter Fraud in the past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election, will be paid $1,000,000 upon the arrest and conviction of those that created the Fraud!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post The president did not provide more details on his announcement, including how the reward money will be provided or what agency could be involved.
