US Supreme Court Rejects Trump Administration's Request to Intervene in California Vote Count

The US Supreme Court has dealt a significant blow to President Donald Trump's efforts to influence the outcome of the midterm elections by rejecting his administration's request to intervene in California's vote count.

The justice department had asked the court to set aside 20,000 ballots that it claimed may have been issued to non-US citizens, but state election officials disputed this claim, arguing that the process used to identify alleged non-citizens was inaccurate.

Two lower courts had already rejected the request, which has now been denied by the Supreme Court in a one-line order. This decision paves the way for the existing rulings made in lower courts to stand.

California is the most populous state in America, with over 23 million registered voters, and many have already cast their ballots - more than six million mail-in votes had been received as of Sunday night according to the California secretary of state's office.

California's secretary of state and Los Angeles County Registrar received letters from the justice department last month, requesting them to set aside ballots from 20,000 registered voters suspected by the Trump administration to be non-citizens.

The Department of Homeland Security subsequently delivered letters to county officials and employees across California, threatening criminal charges if they didn't isolate these disputed ballots. The government's claims are based on a list provided in court documents, which alleged that these individuals "likely do not hold citizenship.

California election officials have raised concerns about the accuracy of this list, pointing out numerous errors and inaccuracies that could disenfranchise eligible voters. They argue that segregating ballots during an ongoing election is impractical and would cause significant disruption to the voting process.

The Trump administration's efforts are part of a long-standing campaign to combat alleged voter fraud, which research has consistently shown to be extremely rare in the United States.

The Trump administration has been waging a long-standing campaign against alleged voter fraud in the United States.

Critics argue that this effort is driven by baseless claims that immigrants are voting illegally, particularly through mail-in" or postal voting systems used in many Democratic states. These allegations have been repeatedly made by President Trump despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.