# Justice Department drops bid to force California to set aside disputed ballots

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/justice-department-drops-bid-to-force-california-to-set-aside-disputed-ballots/
- Published: 2026-11-07T16:50:42+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-07T17:37:19+00:00
- Original publisher: PBS NewsHour (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/justice-department-drops-bid-to-force-california-to-set-aside-disputed-ballots
- Topics: Elections, Politics

## Key points

- Justice Department seeks to drop its challenge to about 20,000 California ballots.
- California says the list of suspected non-citizens includes legitimate voters.
- About 5 million ballots remained to be counted on Friday.

## Summary

The US Justice Department has asked to dismiss its lawsuit seeking to stop California from counting about 20,000 ballots it said may have been cast by non-citizens. The decision came days after Republican losses in the midterm elections and shortly before a hearing on the accuracy of the federal list used to identify the disputed ballots.

California officials say the list is out of date and includes eligible voters. A judge had allowed the election to proceed, warning that separating ballots could disenfranchise citizens; ballots are anonymised once processed. California had processed about 9 million of its roughly 14 million ballots by Friday, with nearly 5 million still to count. The Justice Department says it will pursue other election-law cases and is supporting a separate lawsuit over California’s voter rolls.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.