Analysis Finds 40% of DOJ ‘Noncitizen’ Voter List Names Missing from California Rolls
A new legal filing reveals over 40% of names on a DOJ noncitizen voter list are not registered in California, potentially flagging eligible citizens.
POLICY WIRE — California, USA — A new legal challenge released on Saturday reveals that more than 40% of individuals identified as potential noncitizen voters by the Trump administration do not appear on the state’s official registration records.
The findings, presented by an immigrant rights group, mark the first external audit of a list containing 20,930 names that the Department of Justice used to pressure California election officials with potential prosecution.
The federal government previously demanded that officials isolate ballots belonging to individuals on this list during the Election Day count, a move that several judges have dismissed as unconstitutional and a danger to democratic processes.
The analysis was conducted by two data scientists from the UCLA Voting Rights Project, who filed the lawsuit alongside the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).
The researchers discovered that 8,880 names—accounting for 42% of the total federal list—do not match any entry in California’s current voter database.
The audit also indicated that at least 22 U.S. citizens were incorrectly flagged as ineligible, with researchers suggesting that many more entries may actually belong to confirmed citizens.
The filing asserts that the review provides evidence that threatening election officials with civil and criminal penalties undermines the voting rights of CHIRLA’s clients and members.
The legal document was co-signed by Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor and an advisor to the UCLA-based project.
In response, the Trump administration resisted efforts to release the data, characterizing the request for the list as a “fishing expedition” and claiming it contained sensitive information.
Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)
