Appeals court rejects Trump bid to set aside suspect California ballots Play

California's election will continue without the federal government's order for local officials to set aside votes cast by citizens Washington suspects of being noncitizens.

For now, at least, there will be no votes withheld from the tabulations because the people who cast them appear on a list of suspicious names flagged under a secret algorithm by political appointees in Washington.

The U.S. District Court of Appeals did not resolve the case and instead sent it back to a federal judge for a hearing Tuesday.

Two of the three appeals court judges made it clear they will reject the administration's arguments if the case reaches them again.

One judge wrote that the Trump election claims, if accepted, would "harm the public by risking the disenfranchisement of eligible voters and put the entire (vote) tabulation process in jeopardy." Those are the words of Judge Mark Bennett, appointed to the court by Trump.

But another Trump-appointed judge dissented. Judge Patrick Bumatay wrote that the federal government needed to enforce Congress's law against illegal voting by aliens and went to the courts "because California would not help."

The panel said no, and also scoffed at the supposed need for an emergency order.

In Malibu and all of L.A. County, voting continues, and no votes will be held aside because they match names on a secret list drawn up by the Trump administration.

Democrats and some Republicans fear the president could order the federal government to seize these sort of suspect ballots in the middle of the count, after the election ends next week.