The Blackout Overnight Brief
Good morning, and welcome to The Blackout Overnight Brief. I’m covering overnight and this morning’s news and developments, telling you the stories XVOA is following, and filling in context on reporting you may have missed. This is The Blackout’s daily rundown of major overnight developments and this morning’s top stories. If a story happens to come from video, I take the time to explain it here so you don’t have to watch.
Also this morning:
Hundreds have lit candles at Jackson State for Jada Henderson and U.S. officials have come out and confirmed strikes on Qeshm Island, Iran. Voters in Hinds County will be able to use Mississippi’s state tool to look up their precinct. Rescue workers are still searching through the rubble of an aid center in Ukraine.
A word from the editor
On Friday, Judge James Boasberg ordered federal officials to give the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) their list of more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens on California’s voter rolls. In Monday’s opinion, he wrote that CHIRLA’s expert found at least 22 U.S. citizen members whose records fully matched entries on the list.
If you received a mail-in ballot and are on that list of Californians the Trump administration believed to be noncitizens, how would you find that out? Who vouched for the accuracy of the list before it was provided to local elections officials in California?
Tuesday, November 3, 2026 · 6:55 a.m. ET
What the Supreme Court decided in United States v. California
On Monday evening, the Supreme Court denied the Justice Department’s bid to require California counties to set aside mail ballots from people on the list pending citizenship checks. The one-sentence order didn’t offer an explanation. No justice publicly dissented.
On October 28, Judge David Carter in California’s Central District denied the request. On Friday, the Ninth Circuit also denied emergency relief.
Californians had returned more than 6 million mail ballots as of Monday, according to Associated Press election data. California said in a court filing that once election workers confirm the voter’s signature and remove the ballot from its envelope, there’s no way to match it to the voter.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific (10 a.m. to 11 p.m. ET). Use the state’s Where’s My Ballot? website to check whether yours was received.
Reporting: Supreme Court order · California’s court filing · Associated Press · California voter guide · Where’s My Ballot?
Judge bars federal demands to set aside California ballots
In a separate case Monday, Judge Boasberg barred Homeland Security and other federal officials from demanding that California counties set aside ballots or change election procedures because a voter appears on the list. Pedro Trujillo and CHIRLA won the preliminary injunction.
In letters to all 58 California counties, the administration threatened legal action if they failed to comply. Boasberg found the demands likely violated the Elections Clause, which gives state legislatures and Congress authority over congressional elections. The executive branch “lacks authority to unilaterally impose its preferred procedures,” he wrote.
Some county officials have publicly acknowledged reviewing those lists. Boasberg has concluded that CHIRLA’s citizen members faced a credible threat of having their ballots delayed or set aside.
Reporting: Judge Boasberg’s opinion · Associated Press
Where Hinds County voters can find their polling place
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central (8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET) on Tuesday, Mississippi election officials said. Voters still in line at close of polls can cast a ballot. Use My Election Day to look up your polling place by home address.
Mississippi Free Press reporter Grace Marion said that after clicking a polling place link sent by Zack Wallace, the circuit clerk of Hinds County, Monday at 5:03 p.m. Central (6:03 p.m. ET), all she saw was a blue screen with the words “Website Coming Soon.”
On Oct. 20, the Free Press told Hinds County the link led to a mental health clinic’s website. The election commission’s listed phone number has been disconnected since at least Oct. 21, Marion reported.
Reporting: Mississippi Free Press · My Election Day lookup · State voting hours
U.S. strikes military targets on Iran’s Qeshm Island, officials say
ABC News reported at 10:31 p.m. ET Monday that two U.S. officials confirmed limited U.S. strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island. The strikes came after Iran attacked a U.S. aircraft, according to one of them.
Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, Iran’s lead negotiator, told parliament on Tuesday that Iran had responded to Washington and it’s up to the U.S. not to return to war, Iranian state media reported. Qalibaf did not elaborate.
India said an unidentified object hit a commercial ship off Oman Monday. One Indian national died, and 13 people were rescued. India did not say who was responsible.
Reporting: ABC News · Associated Press
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Rescuers search for survivors in the rubble of a Ukrainian aid center
Russian bombs struck a school and a nearby shelter in Komyshuvakha, Ukraine, on Monday, Ukrainian officials said. The school was being used to hand out humanitarian aid. By Tuesday morning, 31 people had been confirmed dead, including four police officers and two rescue workers, and more than 45 remained missing, the Associated Press reported.
A medical center in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was hit by a Russian attack overnight, the regional governor said. More than 200 patients had to be evacuated from the facility.
Delegations from Ukraine and Russia are expected to meet in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 10–11 to discuss humanitarian and postwar security issues, U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff said Monday.
Reporting: Associated Press · The Guardian · RFE/RL on the talks
Hundreds hold candlelight vigil for Jackson State student killed in off-campus shooting
Hundreds of people gathered on the tower lawn at Jackson State University Monday evening to light candles in memory of Jada Henderson, an 18-year-old student killed Sunday at an off-campus Halloween party, WLBT reported. The Mississippi Free Press identified the other person killed as Lovdia Poindexter, 20, citing the police release. Six others were injured.
Lauren Knowles, a Jackson State freshman who left the party hours before the shooting, wrote a tribute to Henderson at the vigil, according to WLBT.
The university canceled classes for undergraduates on Tuesday and switched graduate classes online. It directed students to the Latasha Norman Center for Counseling Services.
Reporting: WLBT at the vigil · Mississippi Free Press · Class and counseling details
Al Jazeera correspondent released hours after West Bank raid
Montaser Nassar, an Al Jazeera correspondent, was among those taken away by Israeli soldiers in Dura, near Hebron in the occupied West Bank, according to the network. Soldiers took Nassar from his home around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday local time (7:30 p.m. ET Monday). Nassar was released a few hours later. Footage from Al Jazeera showed him being led blindfolded and handcuffed to a military vehicle.
Reporting: Al Jazeera on the release · Footage of the detention · WAFA
Ebola outbreak has killed 5,376 people, most of them in Congo
The Ebola outbreak the Democratic Republic of Congo declared in May 2026 has now claimed 5,376 lives, according to Africa CDC figures shared Monday with AFP. 5,372 of the deaths were in the DRC, with two each in Uganda and Kenya. The agency reported 10,444 confirmed cases.
Health officials have said fighting in eastern Congo between government forces and armed groups, including the Rwanda-backed M23, has made it difficult for health workers to track those who may have been exposed to the virus. Researchers are looking into whether an existing Ebola vaccine may be effective against the Bundibugyo virus that’s causing the current outbreak.
Reporting: AFP via Medical Xpress · U.S. CDC · Associated Press on conditions in eastern Congo · WHO on Ebola vaccines
Australia’s first openly gay state governor takes office
Queensland’s new governor, Thomas Bradley, is Australia’s first openly gay state governor, according to The Washington Blade. The former appeals court judge, who’d previously served as an ambassador for the Pinnacle Foundation, an organization that works to advance the educational outcomes of LGBTQ+ young people in Australia, was sworn in Sunday as Queensland’s 28th governor, Government House said. The government residence welcomed both Bradley and his partner, Dr. Matthew Yoong.
Reporting: Government House · Washington Blade · Star Observer · Government House welcome