Good morning, it's Saturday, Oct. 31. A federal judge ordered the Justice Department to stop threatening election officials, hours after an appeals court turned away its bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots.

Also in today's issue: Alaska's probe goes public, Three ads come down, A $6 billion heist, Florida's slow mail, A record month in Hormuz.

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Four days before the midterms, a federal judge told the Justice Department to stop threatening the people who count the votes. U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson in California issued that order late Friday. A few hours earlier, an appeals court turned away the department's push to set aside thousands of California ballots. Both fights center on one list, and one question about it was never answered in court.

Start with who this touches. The department has a list of about 20,000 Californians it calls "likely" noncitizens. It wanted their mail ballots held back until each person's citizenship was checked. County election workers were told they could face criminal charges if they didn't go along. If your name landed on that list by mistake, your ballot was the one in limbo.

Thompson's order changes that, at least for now. The department can't threaten state or local election officials with prosecution for refusing its demands. It also can't press them to purge voters, deny ballots or set ballots aside based on its list, according to The Hill. Unions for California election workers brought the case, joined by groups including the NAACP.

Her reasoning came down to timing. Ballots are already out. People are already voting, and workers are already opening envelopes. Thompson, an appointee of President Joe Biden, wrote that the department's actions would likely end up disenfranchising lawful voters. The department had no immediate comment, Reuters reported.

Now the appeals court. A split panel of the 9th Circuit upheld a lower judge's decision to throw out the department's ballot lawsuit. That court hears federal appeals from Western states.

The department's side deserves a fair hearing. Voting by noncitizens is a federal crime, and enforcing that law is its job. Holding a ballot for a few days, prosecutors argue, costs a legal voter nothing. Judge Patrick Bumatay, a Trump appointee, called a pause on suspect ballots "the bare minimum" in an earlier dissent.

So where did the list come from? At an earlier hearing, the government's lawyer couldn't say who supplied the data. He said only that it was bought from an outside company. California officials say it includes many people who appear to be citizens. Noncitizen voting does happen, but cases are rare.

Here's the rule underneath it all. The Constitution gives states the main job of running elections, while Congress can set some ground rules. Federal prosecutors can still charge real fraud after the fact. What courts keep rejecting is federal pressure on local workers while the count is underway.

Watch two things. The department could ask a higher court to lift Thompson's order before Tuesday. If that fails, California counts under its own rules. It's also unclear how the order affects grand jury subpoenas sent to Los Angeles County election workers. Those subpoenas tell them to appear in court the day after the election, and that date could become the next fight.

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Alaska's top federal prosecutor confirmed Friday that a criminal investigation into the state's Senate race has been running for months. U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman said this week's New York Times report on the second Dan Sullivan brought a "significant surge" of FBI resources. He wouldn't name targets or possible crimes. The Justice Department usually avoids public steps in the weeks before an election, so the timing stands out. Prosecutors also asked a judge to set aside every ballot ranking Daniel J. Sullivan, the retired teacher, and want an answer by Monday. Supporters say voters deserve to know if a campaign tried to trick them. Mary Peltola again denied any role. The state notes the ballot already labels the senator as the Republican incumbent.

Three taxpayer-funded ads must come down, Judge Jennifer Rochon ruled Friday. One promotes President Trump's claim that every American will get $5,000 if Republicans keep Congress. The others are titled "Every Democrat Voted Against No Tax on Tips" and "Cost of Socialism." She ordered them off government websites and social media. She also canceled plans to air them through outside groups, including Trump's super PAC, though government lawyers asked her late Friday to drop that part. But she refused to pull about 10 more ads, saying the government may win on many of them. Presidents can explain and defend their policies, she noted. Critics say campaign messages shouldn't run on public money. The White House called it a "lawless order."

Hackers took about $6.3 billion from Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, in roughly 20 minutes Thursday afternoon. On Friday, blockchain tracing firms blamed North Korea's elite hacking unit, known as TraderTraitor. It's the largest crypto theft on record, about four times the old high. Companies behind dollar-pegged coins froze billions within an hour, and about $3 billion is now locked. The Trump family's crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, also froze some funds. But about $2.4 billion in bitcoin and ether can't be frozen. Binance says it will cover customer losses. Trump pardoned its founder, Changpeng Zhao, last year. North Korea has long used stolen crypto to get around sanctions, NPR reported.

Florida's Seminole County has sent more than 500 replacement mail ballots after voters said theirs never arrived. Supervisor Amy Pennock said one ballot took seven days to travel within Sanford, the same city. Broward County's supervisor said his son's ballot took 12 days to arrive from Orlando. Monroe County reports problems too, though the Postal Service says it sees no delays there. The stakes are real. Florida counts mail ballots only if they reach the elections office by 7 p.m. on Election Day. Pennock's advice is to skip the mailbox now. Drop the ballot at an early voting site or the elections office, or vote in person instead.

Ships reported just over 30 attacks around the Strait of Hormuz in October, more than any month of the war, Britain's maritime monitor said Friday. That's double September's count. Most strikes since July hit the southern route the U.S. urges tankers to use. Iran claimed four tankers struck mines there Friday, while the top U.S. commander in the region insists the lanes are safe. President Trump said the war will "get wrapped up soon," without saying how. Qatari mediators brought new edits of a peace plan to Tehran, and Iran's answer is expected this weekend. Until shipping calms down, oil prices are unlikely to ease much.

That's ExxonMobil's profit from July through September, more than double the $7.5 billion it made a year earlier. Oil prices, pushed up by the Iran war, stayed about 70% above last year's level, CBS News reported.

P.S. What makes you trust the people counting your vote? Hit Reply — one word is enough.