Trump DOJ Threatens Criminal Prosecution for California Election Workers Over Noncitizen Ballots
Justice Department warns election officials could face charges for knowingly processing votes cast by noncitizens.
The Justice Department has issued a stern warning to California election officials, threatening potential criminal prosecution for counting ballots cast by suspected noncitizens. This move escalates a legal battle over voter rolls just weeks before the November election.
In a letter sent Friday, the Justice Department cautioned that election workers who knowingly process ballots from individuals identified by federal authorities as noncitizens could face federal criminal investigations. The letter, obtained by the Associated Press, was addressed to the Los Angeles County Counsel’s office and copied to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan.
“The legal consequences for either facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are significant. Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime — and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful,” wrote Trent McCotter, the Justice Department’s acting deputy attorney general. McCotter added that officials responsible for tallying votes “risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime” if they knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified as noncitizens.
This warning follows a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration against California, seeking to block the counting of mail-in ballots from approximately 20,000 individuals suspected of being noncitizens. Federal officials stated they identified these individuals as likely noncitizens who received mail-in ballots in California, where all registered voters automatically receive mail-in ballots.
The Justice Department demanded that state officials review a list of names within 48 hours. After California did not meet this deadline, the administration filed the lawsuit, aiming to prevent the ballots from being counted until citizenship status could be verified.
“California election officials were given an opportunity to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls and to sequester ballots returned from suspected ineligible voters. They refused,” said Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles. “We are taking California to federal court to demand that the votes of American citizens not be diluted by noncitizens.”
Secretary Weber has contested the allegations, stating that federal authorities have not provided evidence to support their claims. This dispute is part of a broader effort by the administration to scrutinize voter rolls. Earlier in the year, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin alleged that up to 250,000 noncitizens were registered to vote across California, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. However, in Nevada, an initial review of 1,500 flagged individuals found no registered noncitizens among them.
The Justice Department has reported charging approximately 90 individuals with election-related offenses this year, including 50 accused of voting illegally as noncitizens.