WASHINGTON – The Trump administration on Nov. 2 asked the Supreme Court to direct California to set aside mailed ballots cast by anyone on a list of 20,000 registered voters the administration alleges

may not be citizens.

The administration filed that emergency request shortly before the Nov. 3 midterm elections that will decidewhich party will control Congress.

"Once California commingles the challenged ballots with lawful ones, there is no way to get the challenged ballots back," the Justice Department wrote in their appeal.

President Donald Trump has tried to boostthe federal government’s role in elections and has alleged without evidence that noncitizens are influencing outcomes by illegally voting.

California said it already has safeguards to protect election integrity and the process the administration used to create its own list is “highly suspect.”

The Constitution gives states and Congress, but not the executive branch, responsibility for regulating federal elections.

A judge on Oct. 28 rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to keep the ballots from being counted until the voters have been verified as citizens.

"Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional election procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch," wrote U.S. District Judge David Carter.

Carter also said the administration failed to provide sufficient evidence that it used a “credible” process for creating its list.

Pointing to that conclusion, the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said forcing California to use the list could bar valid votes from being cast and jeopardize the Los Angeles County election.