DOJ Threatens Legal Action Against California Over Noncitizen Ballots
The Justice Department has given California 48 hours to review a list of potential noncitizens on voter rolls and confirm if any were mailed ballots for the upcoming midterm elections.
The Justice Department is threatening California with legal action, asserting that the state may have mailed ballots to noncitizens ahead of the midterm elections. A letter sent Tuesday to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber informed her that federal officials had provided Los Angeles County election officials with a list of individuals believed to be noncitizens. Acting Deputy U.S. Attorney Trent McCotter warned that California has 48 hours to confirm whether any individuals on this list received ballots for the November 3 election, with the deadline expiring later on Thursday.
"If you cannot implement this process by then, given the ongoing federal election, the United States will have no choice but to seek emergency relief," the letter stated.
Weber released a statement protesting the federal demands, linking them to earlier efforts by the DOJ to scrutinize noncitizens on California's voter rolls. She stated that in July, President Trump and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullen made claims about noncitizens registered to vote in California, but refused to provide their methodology or data sources when requested. "Now the USDOJ, under threat of 'emergency' litigation, demands that California blindly trust this administration without any evidence or legal authority to justify its request," Weber said. She added that the DOJ's actions "serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections," and affirmed that California has robust state laws requiring U.S. citizenship for voter registration, with non-eligible registrants being removed from the rolls. She stated her office and state election officials are committed to ensuring a fair election.
President Donald Trump's administration has increased scrutiny on state voter rolls as part of its focus on election integrity. In late September, the administration received Supreme Court approval to proceed with its voter verification system. This approval allowed states, for the time being, to use the Department of Homeland Security's Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program to verify voter eligibility, a tool previously blocked by a federal judge who cited privacy concerns and the risk of wrongful voter purges. The Trump administration had sought to expand SAVE after an executive order directed the creation of a federal voter registration list and imposed new restrictions on mail-in voting to combat voter fraud.