US Justice Dept loses initial bid to block votes from alleged noncitizens in California

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The Straits Times. (2026, October 29). US Justice Dept loses initial bid to block votes from alleged noncitizens in California. The Straits Times. https://www.straitstimes.com/world/us-justice-dept-loses-initial-bid-to-block-votes-from-alleged-noncitizens-in-california

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The Straits Times · collected 2026-10-29 · by The Straits Times

Quick Summary

On October 28, a US judge in Los Angeles rejected the Justice Department’s request for a temporary restraining order aimed at blocking California from counting mail ballots that were allegedly cast by noncitizens. The court decision is part of ongoing efforts by the Trump administration to intervene in elections and prevent noncitizen voting, which California officials argue is rare and claim their own measures against it are effective. The case involves over 20,000 registered voters flagged by federal authorities; however, the exact number who submitted ballots was not specified.
Written by AI on 2026-10-29, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On October 29, 2026, U.S. District Judge David Carter rejected a request by the Trump administration's Justice Department to force California to segregate approximately 20,000 mail ballots from individuals believed to be noncitizens, just six days before the midterm elections. The Justice Department had provided Los Angeles County officials with a password-protected thumb drive containing names of suspected noncitizen voters and asked them to set aside these ballots until citizenship could be verified. However, Judge Carter criticized this move as unprecedented and coercive, maintaining that states should retain control over their election procedures. The judge's decision allows California’s existing ballot-processing methods to remain intact for the upcoming election on November 3rd.

Written for “Judge Rejects DOJ Bid on California Ballots” on 2026-10-29, grounded in this article and the 47 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.35, but 1 quote(s) could not be found in the article and the other 1 are attributed speech rather than the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 113491: no verified evidence · logged 2026-10-29

Story

📰 Judge Rejects DOJ Bid on California Ballots
Politics · 48 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 11% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Straits Times
Hedges 3 of 26 claims Outlet record 68/100
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 4 claims Outlet record 67/100
The Guardian
Hedges 2 of 18 claims Outlet record 66/100
NBC News
Hedges 3 of 31 claims Outlet record 60/100
Los Angeles Times
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 6 of 48 claims Outlet record 95/100
Washington Examiner
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 3 claims Outlet record 70/100
ABC News (US)
Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 70/100
CBS News
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 5 of 41 claims Outlet record 66/100
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 2 of 19 claims Outlet record 60/100
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 7 of 34 claims Outlet record 60/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
11%
2 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
68/100
The Straits Times's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
48
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-29 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Straits Times · 3882 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)

Who wrote this

The Straits Times
2389 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
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🔮 “Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch,” Carter wrote on Oct 28.
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Also by The Straits Times
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 2389 articles by The Straits Times →

Topics

Alaska California Washington the Justice Department the Justice Department's

Subjects

California GPE · 9× the Justice Department ORG · 5× Trump PERSON · 3× Washington GPE · 3× Alaska GPE · 2× the Justice Department's ORG · 2× Donald Trump PERSON · 1× Justice Dept ORG · 1× Republican Party ORG · 1× the Trump administration ORG · 1×

Narrative

APPEALS COURT REJECTED EMERGENCY REQUEST The hearing comes after a federal appeals court on Monday rejected an unusual emergency request by the Justice Department asking the appeals court to temporarily block California from counting the ballots before Carter had the chance to rule. The Justice Department did not indicate how many of the more than 20,000 people it flagged in California had actually submitted a mail ballot.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-29
🔮 It said the Justice Department's assertions relied on "suspect data" and that complying with its demands would risk disenfranchising eligible voters.

Claims (18 extracted, 2 hedged)

US Justice Dept loses initial bid to block votes from alleged noncitizens in California Oct 28 - asserted
Dept → lose → California
A US judge rejected on Wednesday a request by the Justice Department to temporarily block California from counting any mail ballots for the November 3 midterm elections received from people on a list of more than 20,000 registered voters the Trump administration alleges are likely noncitizens. asserted
administration → reject → voters
The decision marks the latest setback for President Donald Trump's effort to boost the federal government's role in elections ahead of the midterms, with his Republican Party locked in a tight battle to retain control of both houses of Congress. asserted
Party → mark → Congress
US District Judge David Carter issued the decision after a hearing on Tuesday in Los Angeles federal court over the Justice Department's request for a temporary restraining order barring officials from counting any ballots from the individuals it flagged. asserted
it → issue → individuals
The Justice Department filed the lawsuit on October 15, a rare intervention in the voting process weeks before an election. asserted
Department → file → election
California has said the state's safeguards against noncitizen voting are robust. asserted
safeguards → say → voting
It said the Justice Department's assertions relied on "suspect data" and that complying with its demands would risk disenfranchising eligible voters. asserted
complying → say → voters
It has more seats in the House of Representatives — 52 — than any other state. asserted
It → have → state
Trump has made California a focal point of his sweeping immigration crackdown since returning to the White House, accusing it of undermining public safety through its "sanctuary state" policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. asserted
that → make → enforcement
Trump has repeatedly insisted that states are not doing enough to stop voting by noncitizens, which he says is widespread despite multiple studies and state audits showing it is rare. asserted
it → insist → studies
APPEALS COURT REJECTED EMERGENCY REQUEST The hearing comes after a federal appeals court on Monday rejected an unusual emergency request by the Justice Department asking the appeals court to temporarily block California from counting the ballots before Carter had the chance to rule. The Justice Department did not indicate how many of the more than 20,000 people it flagged in California had actually submitted a mail ballot. asserted
it → reject → ballot
Apart from California, the Trump administration has sought to intervene in elections in two states that are home to competitive races. asserted
that → seek → races
In Alaska, the Justice Department last week asked a judge to prevent certification of election results if the Republican incumbent senator loses by a slim margin, alleging that the presence of another candidate with a similar name on the ballot could confuse voters. uncertain
presence → ask → voters
Alaska has urged that the case be dismissed, arguing it has taken steps to distinguish the two candidates on the ballot. asserted
it → urge → ballot
In Washington state, the Justice Department on Monday sent a letter asking officials not to count any ballots received from 400 voters it said may not be citizens. uncertain
it → send → voters
Washington's top elections official said the timing of the request indicated it was intended to cast unfounded suspicion on election results. asserted
it → say → results
California had 23 million registered voters as of December 2025, while Washington had 5 million registered voters as of 2024, state records show. asserted
records → have → 2024
Voting rights activists have expressed concern that the federal government's methods for scrutinizing state voter lists to identify noncitizen voters risk wrongly flagging naturalized citizens for removal from the rolls. asserted
methods → express → rolls
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