Another Legal Showdown Set Over California Ballots

LOS ANGELES (AP) — An appeals court has declined to rule on whether California elections officials can count roughly 20,000 ballots that the Justice Department alleges likely belong to noncitizen voters. Monday’s decision sets the federal government and state officials up for another legal showdown Tuesday before a federal district judge. That gives the federal government a very short window to compel California to sequester votes before the Nov. 3 elections. The Republican administration sued election officials in the heavily Democratic state in mid-October, accusing them of failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a list of 20,000 people it alleged were likely noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls. The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to an emailed inquiry about Monday’s decision.