The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against California election officials, seeking to prevent the state from counting mail-in ballots from individuals identified as "likely" noncitizens in the upcoming midterm elections. The lawsuit asks a judge to bar the state from counting these ballots until the voters' immigration status can be verified.
The action follows a letter from the Justice Department asserting that California officials failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a thumb drive containing a list of 20,000 names. The federal government claims these individuals are likely noncitizens who received ballots for the Nov. 3 election, though California Secretary of State Shirley Weber stated the administration has provided no evidence to support this assertion. California mails ballots to all registered voters.
California's top election official, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, has pushed back against the federal government's claims, stating that the Justice Department has not provided evidence for its allegations. She noted that voting is already underway in the state and criticized the Justice Department's demands as threatening Californians' right to vote based on unverified information. Weber asserted that California's election processes are in full compliance with federal law.
David Becker, an election law expert and head of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, described the lawsuit as "fairly frivolous" and suggested its purpose might be to lay the groundwork for false claims about election integrity. He noted that election officials typically do not accept data on unsecured thumb drives due to cybersecurity protocols.
In its lawsuit, the Justice Department claims it sought to collaborate with California to identify noncitizen voters, but that the state made "no serious effort" to do so. The suit requests that the court prohibit California from tabulating mail-in ballots from individuals identified as likely noncitizens until their citizenship can be determined.
Weber also pointed out that the number of alleged noncitizens flagged by the federal government has fluctuated, dropping from 190,000 over the summer to the 20,000 mentioned in the recent Justice Department communication. California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated that the Trump administration's actions violate federal law prohibiting changes to voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
The Trump administration has emphasized efforts to identify noncitizen voters, a practice that election experts consider exceptionally rare. The Justice Department has reported charging approximately 90 individuals for election misconduct this year, including about 50 accused of voting as noncitizens. In the 2024 presidential election, there were over 227 million registered voters nationwide.