Justice Department Threatens California With Lawsuit Over Noncitizen Voter Rolls

POLICY WIRE — Los Angeles, United States — The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened California with possible legal action over claims that noncitizens were erroneously sent mail ballots for the upcoming midterm elections.

Trent McCotter, the acting deputy U.S. attorney general, issued a letter on Tuesday to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber. The correspondence stated that federal officials delivered a password-protected thumb drive to Los Angeles County containing a roster of individuals believed to be noncitizens who received ballots for the November 3 election.

Because California mails ballots to all registered voters, the federal government has given the state a strict 48-hour deadline to review the list and determine if any citizens were mistakenly included. For any individuals whose citizenship remains unverified, local election officials must segregate their mail-in ballots and withhold ballots from anyone who has not yet received one.

If the state fails to meet the 48-hour deadline, the letter explicitly warns that the federal government will seek emergency relief in court. A separate, identical letter was dispatched to the Los Angeles County registrar’s office, which previously faced a federal investigation during the state’s June primary.

Neither the California secretary of state nor the Los Angeles County registrar immediately responded to requests for comment regarding the federal directive. The Trump administration has increasingly prioritized combating noncitizen voting ahead of the midterms, despite election integrity experts noting that the practice is exceptionally rare.

Federal statistics indicate that the Justice Department has filed charges against roughly 90 individuals for various election misconduct violations this year, including 50 accused of voting as noncitizens. These investigations unfold against a backdrop of more than 227 million registered voters nationwide during the 2024 presidential election.

In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to California, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania claiming that up to 250,000 noncitizens were registered across those jurisdictions. State officials strongly rejected the premise, with Secretary Weber questioning the reliability of the underlying data since her office never shared its statewide registration rolls with federal agencies.

A similar claim in Nevada alleged 1,500 noncitizen voters, though subsequent state verification revealed zero actual registered noncitizens on the rolls. To support its ongoing oversight, the Justice Department has targeted 30 states and the District of Columbia with lawsuits demanding detailed voter records, including dates of birth, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and partial Social Security numbers.

While some Republican-led states complied, California successfully sued to block the data transfer, arguing that turning over such information violates state privacy laws. Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber, who serves as president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, condemned the 48-hour compliance window as entirely unreasonable given the necessary scope of due diligence.

Webber noted that investigating an allegedly ineligible voter requires thoroughly checking registration history, prior voting records, and direct outreach to the individual. Having worked in local elections for decades, she emphasized that she has never encountered evidence suggesting that voter rolls are compromised by widespread fraudulent registrations.

Reporting by Policy-Wire (PW)