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The Trump administration is demanding an emergency court order to stop California from counting ballots tied to more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens, warning that once the votes are mixed in, there may be no way to undo it.

First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli and Attorney General Todd Blanche are leading the Justice Department’s push for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to force California to set aside the disputed mail-in ballots and verify voters’ citizenship before counting them.

“Every minute that goes by, American citizen votes are being diluted in the state of California,” Essayli said Thursday. “It’s an emergency, and we expect the courts to treat it as such.”

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Checked-in mail-in ballots are sorted as they start the process of being counted.…