Trump's legal defeat in effort to remove 20,000 mail-in ballots in California A US appeals court has denied a request by the Trump administration's Justice Department to prevent the counting of more than 20,000 mail-in ballots in California; votes the government claims may belong to non-citizens. This decision was given by a decision of two judges against one judge and returned the case to the trial court. The judges also expressed concern about the validity of the data cited by the government and the possibility of disenfranchisement. The Trump administration justified the move as preventing non-citizens from voting, but California officials saw it as an interference with the state's authority to conduct elections.