California, feds continue election war after courts rebuke challenge to 20,000 ballots – Los Angeles Times

California, feds continue election war after courts rebuke challenge to 20,000 ballots  Los Angeles Times

Soon after a federal judge in Los Angeles sharply rejected a Trump administration effort to block 20,000 California ballots from voters it alleged may be noncitizens, the U.S. Justice Department appealed — leaving attorneys on both sides preparing Thursday for yet another court battle. That was despite the lower court judge calling the request an unlawful threat to eligible voters in Tuesday's midterm election and to free and fair American elections moving forward, and the same appellate court having already rejected the plan days before. "Every day, more ballots are processed by election officials. This ongoing emergency disenfranchises American citizens through dilution," wrote First Assistant U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, the lead prosecutor in L.A.

Early Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom swiped back at the Trump administration, writing, "A warning to Donald Trump: I’m deploying election lawyers to key battleground districts in California to protect every vote. And I just made it a FELONY to illegally seize ballots." With just days to go until polls close, the heated election war between California and the Trump administration is showing no signs of slowing down despite multiple court orders rejecting the administration's central effort to interfere in the midterms by accusing state and county officials of willfully turning a blind eye to voter fraud. That's in part because lawyers within the U.S. Justice Department