Riverside County election officials face a federal demand to set aside 1,355 mail-in ballots one week before the Nov. 3 election.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli sent a letter late Monday, Oct. 26, to Riverside County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco, flagging the ballots as belonging to "likely aliens," The Press-Enterprise reported. The Department of Justice gave the county 48 hours to work with federal agencies to verify the voters' citizenship or face legal action.

Elizabeth Florer, a county elections office spokesperson, confirmed receipt of the letter but said officials had not yet reviewed its contents. "We have not yet reviewed (the letter's) contents and have no further comment at this time," Florer said via email, according to the Press-Enterprise.

The Riverside County demand is part of a broader federal lawsuit targeting roughly 20,000 California mail-in ballots the DOJ alleges were cast by noncitizens. San Bernardino County received a similar letter dated Oct. 22. The Press-Enterprise reported that letter asked the county to withhold 1,355 ballots, while the Daily News put the figure at about 1,100. Orange and Los Angeles counties also received requests.

Federal judge signals skepticism

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter held a three-and-a-half-hour hearing Tuesday, Oct. 27, in Los Angeles on the DOJ's emergency request to force California to set aside the disputed ballots statewide, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Carter questioned how the administration compiled its list of suspected noncitizen voters and said the demands would represent a "monumental change" to California elections, the Times reported. He said he would issue a ruling by Wednesday, Oct. 28, and floated appointing a special master to evaluate both sides' claims before the state's deadline to certify election results.

At the hearing, Essayli argued the government was making "a very narrow request" to temporarily set aside ballots of suspected noncitizens, according to the Daily News. Carter pushed back. "You've got a remedy for goodness sake," the judge told Essayli, according to ABC7. "Go out and indict."

Before leaving the courtroom, Carter said threats against election workers should stop. "This court believes it would be wise that any threats to state and county election employees cease immediately," the judge said, according to the Associated Press.

State calls data 'unreliable'

Attorneys for California said the Trump administration used "data and methods known to be unreliable" to build its list, according to the Daily News. Christina McCall, an attorney for the state, noted that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent a letter to Secretary of State Shirley Weber in July alleging there might be more than 190,000 noncitizens on the state's voter rolls. By October, that figure had dropped to 20,000.

Los Angeles County officials found that a small sample of people on the federal list were citizens, the AP reported. The federal agent who conducted the investigation disputed those findings in an affidavit, but the filing conceded that some names could have been mistakenly included.

A day before the hearing, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declined 2-1 on Monday, Oct. 26, to hear the DOJ's emergency appeal. Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, questioned the request at a rare Sunday session, saying the lawsuit appeared "entirely inconsistent with the law the California Legislature has adopted," according to ABC7.

The list is small. California has more than 23 million registered voters, and more than 3 million ballots had already been returned statewide as of the hearing, the AP reported.

Carter's ruling is expected Wednesday, Oct. 28. Essayli said after the hearing that the administration was likely to appeal the matter back to the appellate court, according to the Times.