Federal court clears Trump to threaten California vote counters Play

The election count may be stalled in some places in California. Malibu has seen no results posted since just after the polls closed Tuesday at 8 p.m. This has not happened in previous years.

In a series of rulings late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals contradicted itself two times in a series of orders.

As of sunrise on election day, the courts cleared the Trump administration to threaten California election workers with criminal charges for counting ballots the way state law requires. The Trump demands to segregate contested ballots were struck down by the Supreme Court. The appellate court's final decision came on election day.

Immediately, the White House announced it would send out "1,000 election monitors and observers" across the U.S. in what it called "the largest monitoring effort in DOJ history."

The move came as the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed itself and allowed the Trump administration to threaten California election workers with criminal charges.

California officials have been quick to hit back. Attorney General Rob Bonta said on social media, "We'll have our observers on site keeping an eye on your monitors."

The Justice Department sent a last-minute surge of election monitors into Los Angeles on Tuesday morning, amid an ongoing legal tug-of-war over California's 20,000 contested ballots.

We do not know what is happening in L.A. Wednesday morning, but the Malibu totals are delayed.

CalMatters reports that some California counties are issuing guidelines restricting the press from documenting Election Day proceedings at polling places. Kern County has prohibited journalists from taking video within 100 feet of poll sites and ballot drop boxes. Other counties have similar prohibitions.

A statewide poll conducted before the election shows that 63 percent of California voters worry the Trump administration may try to halt the California vote count. Eighty-five percent of Democrats believe the count could be stopped. Twenty-two percent of Republicans feel the same way.

Unprecedented levels of concern come amid a series of legal actions by the Trump administration to interfere in California's elections.