Federal Judge Rejects Trump Administration Bid to Set Aside 20,000 California Ballots

• by Shimanta Das
• October 30, 2026

A federal judge on Tuesday declined to order California election officials to segregate and refrain from counting ballots from 20,000 voters whom the Trump administration claimed were non-citizens, delivering a sharp rebuff to a legally thin request from the Justice Department that appeared designed to cast doubt on the integrity of the midterm elections. The ruling from U.S. District Judge David Carter, who was nominated to the bench by President Bill Clinton, comes roughly two weeks after the Justice Department delivered a USB drive to election officials in Los Angeles and Sacramento containing the names of 20,000 alleged non-citizens on the state’s voter rolls. The department had sought an emergency order to set aside those ballots, but Judge Carter found the request lacked merit and denied it.nnThe decision was swiftly praised by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who called it an “important victory for the rule of law and the right to vote.” Bonta’s office had opposed the Justice Department’s motion, arguing that the federal government had provided no credible evidence to support its claims and that the request was an attempt to interfere with California’s election administration. The ruling also drew support from Governor Gavin Newsom, who said in a statement that “our country’s legal system is standing up to the President’s authoritarian attempts to remain in power unchecked and unchallenged.” The case has become a flashpoint in the broader national debate over election security and voting rights.nnCentral to the dispute was the Justice Department’s assertion that the 20,000 individuals on the USB drive were non-citizens who had improperly registered to vote. However, California officials and voting rights experts noted that there are more than 23 million registered voters in the state, and that non-citizen voting is extremely rare. The Justice Department’s protocol for verifying citizenship, they argued, “raises significant concerns” and appeared to rely on flawed data. Judge Carter’s ruling means that those 20,000 ballots will be counted along with all other valid ballots cast in the election, unless the Justice Department can provide more substantial evidence in a future legal challenge.nnThe ruling is a significant setback for the Trump administration’s efforts to challenge election results in California, a state that has long been a target of unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud. Legal analysts