LA Prosecutor Warns Noncitizens May Be Voting as California Ballot Fight Heads to Court

Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor fears noncitizens could be illegally casting ballots in California as dozens of polling places opened across LA County Saturday. First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli stated it is “very highly likely” noncitizens have already voted, as the Justice Department fights to have California set aside ballots tied to more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens.

Essayli told The California Post that “California’s own papers” indicate over 300,000 ballots have already been processed for LA County alone. “So this is going on as we speak,” he said, warning that more disputed ballots could be cast as the lawsuit progresses. The Justice Department, led by Essayli and US Attorney General Todd Blanche, is seeking a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling to compel California to set aside these disputed ballots and verify voters’ citizenship before they are counted.

The legal battle involves a list of over 20,000 individuals that California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan did not review within the timeframe requested by the Justice Department. As the federal and state officials engage in legal arguments, with oral arguments scheduled for Sunday, Essayli expressed concern that California’s continued resistance to the DOJ’s order could lead to an unknown number of illegal votes being tallied.

“Our biggest fear is they’re just going to try to run out the clock until all the ballots have been processed, in which case there will be nothing we’ll be able to do after the election,” Essayli said. He cited recent state election results that have been decided by very narrow margins, emphasizing that “once they count the ballots, there’s no way to go back and undo that.”

On Saturday, early in-person voting for the Nov. 3 election began at 123 vote centers across LA County, with hundreds more locations set to open the following weekend. Essayli noted that when voting occurs in person, “it’s even more concerning because that ballot is processed instantly.”

This dispute comes days after federal agents arrested 28 alleged illegal voters in California, stemming from the list of 20,000 suspected noncitizens. These individuals were charged with fraudulently registering to vote and, in most cases, allegedly casting illegal ballots. Authorities described the operation as the largest such takedown in the state’s history. “All of them were registered to vote and some of them voted in multiple elections. So this is not a theory,” Essayli stated.

Essayli questioned the resistance from state officials, particularly when claims of illegal voters are dismissed as representing only a small fraction of potential violations. “So what percentage is acceptable? I’d like to know from California,” he posed. He expressed confusion as to why state leaders would oppose the Justice Department’s efforts, suggesting that if their records were sound and noncitizens were not voting, they would have no reason to object.

Prior to initiating the lawsuit, the Justice Department provided Los Angeles County with a password-protected thumb drive containing the names of suspected noncitizens who had been sent mail-in ballots. Logan had previously stated he did not consider the drive a secure device and had not accessed its contents.