Appeals Court Rejects Request to Set Aside California Ballots as Los Angeles County Prepares for Election Day

The federal litigation directly impacts how Los Angeles County processes and counts votes, raising questions for voters about ballot security and deadlines as 646 vote centers and 429 drop boxes operate across the county.

• •A federal appeals court in a 2-1 ruling rejected the Justice Department's bid to force California to set aside thousands of disputed ballots.
• •The Trump administration alleges California sent ballots to roughly 20,000 potentially ineligible noncitizens and wants those ballots held uncounted.
• •State officials contend the list of 20,000 names is unreliable and that processed ballots cannot be matched back to individual voters.
• •At least three Los Angeles County election officials have been subpoenaed and asked to appear before a grand jury Wednesday.
• •Federal prosecutor Bill Essayli warned that election officials who knowingly process a noncitizen's ballot face legal jeopardy.
• •A federal judge ordered the government to share the list of 20,000 names with lawyers for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and the UCLA Voting Rights Project.
• •A separate 9th Circuit panel ordered federal investigations into alleged past noncitizen voting to remain on hold in nine states until after Election Day.
• •Unions including the AFL-CIO asked a federal judge to bar the Justice Department from demanding that local officials stop counting ballots.
• •Los Angeles County features 646 vote centers open for voting and conditional registration, alongside 429 official drop boxes.
• •Every vote-by-mail ballot undergoes signature verification, and voters are notified if signatures are missing or do not match.