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The Justice Department sent letters to at least eighteen California counties demanding information on ballots it says may belong to noncitizens and asking officials to set aside ballots when citizenship cannot be verified. The department gave counties forty-eight hours to respond. The demand expands a federal lawsuit involving about twenty thousand voters. California officials dispute the data's reliability and say the request could delay certification and wrongly disenfranchise citizens. The case has a hearing Tuesday. Associated Press reporting says illegal voting by noncitizens is rare and difficult to prove.

President Donald Trump said he directed his administration to file a lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska's Senate race if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses while another candidate named Daniel J. Sullivan remains on the ballot. The Justice Department filed the suit late Thursday, eleven days before the election. Alaska's Supreme Court previously declined to remove the second Sullivan. The case could matter in a close contest with former Representative Mary Peltola. Legal expert Derek Muller told the Associated Press the suit would likely face dismissal because federal law does not let the Justice Department block certification.

A new wave of entertainment is headed to screens, music apps and game consoles next week. Peacock will stream Minions and Monsters on Wednesday, while Netflix's three-part The One About Matthew Perry revisits the late Friends actor through interviews, photos and previously unseen video. The release arrives just before the third anniversary of Perry's death. Music fans can expect Daddy Yankee's fifteen-track album La Postal on Friday, and HBO Max will return The Gilded Age for a fourth season on November first. Gamers also get Phantom Blade Zero on PlayStation Five and personal computers October twenty-ninth.