Patriots,

The midterms are two days away. This week, the headlines were all polls, rallies, and predictions. Underneath them, six stories that matter to conservatives barely broke through.

Here they are, and why each one matters before you vote.

The Justice Department is in a courtroom battle over about 20,000 California voters it flagged as likely non-citizens by cross-checking voter rolls against Homeland Security data. Under state law, every one of them was automatically mailed a ballot.

DOJ is asking California to set those ballots aside, not cancel them, until citizenship can be checked. California refused, citing state law. DOJ says roughly 800 federal employees checked the names one by one. Los Angeles County says a sample of names on the list turned out to be citizens, and DOJ has conceded the list could include some citizens.

On Tuesday, Judge David Carter, a Clinton appointee, sounded skeptical. “You got a remedy, for goodness sakes. Go out and indict,” he told prosecutors. He signaled he’ll likely appoint an independent special master to examine the list, which means a final answer probably won’t come until after Election Day. On the appeals court, Trump appointee Judge Patrick Bumatay dissented, arguing federal law bars California from mixing likely non-citizen ballots with legitimate ones.

The charges are real, too. DOJ has charged 28 green card holders from that list, and 113 non-citizens across 20 states in just seven weeks.

Why it matters: The fight isn’t really about whether non-citizens should vote. Everyone agrees they shouldn’t. It’s about whether states have to check before counting or chase it after. “We don’t want to chase it later,” the lead prosecutor said. That’s the question to watch after Tuesday.