A federal judge rejected the Trump administration’s request to stop the counting of tens of thousands of ballots in California

A federal judge in the United States on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s request to force California to suspend the counting of approximately 20,000 ballots. The request concerned people whom the administration claims are foreign nationals, in the context of the midterm elections. The decision allows the counting of the challenged ballots to continue, at least at this stage of the judicial proceedings.

The government initially accused the state of California this summer of having 190,000 “illegal” voters on its rolls.

It recently revised that figure to 20,000 and filed an emergency lawsuit approximately ten days ago, while voting operations had already begun—in the United States, voters can vote early and by mail.

Seizing 20,000 ballots while the election is already underway would mean accepting that “any party can create chaos to serve its own political objectives and disrupt the electoral process,” federal judge David O. Carter noted in his decision.