SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Trump administration has expanded its efforts to identify alleged noncitizen voters across California, demanding that election officials in at least 18 counties review voter records and set aside certain ballots, even as new court filings raise questions about the accuracy of the federal government’s list of approximately 20,000 suspected ineligible voters.
The latest demands, issued Friday, Oct. 23, give county election officials 48 hours to provide identifying information about voters flagged by federal authorities and segregate ballots when citizenship cannot be verified. The action comes 11 days before the Nov. 3 midterm election, with voting already underway across the state.
According to reporting by the Associated Press, federal prosecutors have requested Social Security numbers, identification information and voter registration records to help determine whether individuals identified by the Department of Justice are eligible to vote.
The letters follow an Oct. 15 federal lawsuit against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County election officials, in which the Justice Department sought to prevent the counting of ballots cast by people federal investigators believe may be noncitizens.
California officials have challenged the reliability of the federal government’s findings and warned that withholding ballots without sufficient evidence could prevent eligible U.S. citizens from participating in the election.
The dispute has intensified following a preliminary analysis by Los Angeles County election officials showing that a substantial portion of the people identified by federal investigators reported being born in the United States.
In a declaration submitted in federal court, Aman Bhullar, an official with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s Office, described an examination of 200 individuals drawn from the federal government’s list.
Among records containing meaningful birthplace information, 38.9% indicated the individuals were born in the United States, according to the declaration.
The preliminary review also found that approximately 43% of the voter registration records in the sample had already been canceled and 71.2% showed no voting history.
Of the 200 people examined, 86 had been mailed ballots for the November election.
The findings, first detailed by The Guardian and ABC News, do not establish the citizenship status of every person on the federal list. They do, however, identify discrepancies that California election officials say undermine the reliability of the government’s classifications.
Birth in the United States is generally sufficient to establish citizenship under the 14th Amendment, subject to narrow exceptions. A person who is a U.S. citizen cannot lawfully be disqualified from voting in a federal election simply because federal investigators have incorrectly classified that person as a noncitizen.
The Los Angeles County review also found that only approximately 7,000 of the 20,000 individuals identified by federal investigators had addresses within the county, further complicating efforts to reconcile the list with local registration records.
Despite those findings, the Justice Department has continued pressing county election officials to take action before the election.
The latest letters were sent to counties including Contra Costa, Santa Clara, Merced and San Bernardino.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the federal government identified 407 voters in Contra Costa County, 902 in Santa Clara County and 177 in Merced County for review.
A letter to San Bernardino County identified 1,133 individuals whose citizenship status federal investigators questioned.
The Justice Department has instructed election officials to preserve and separate ballots associated with voters whose citizenship cannot be independently confirmed, rather than immediately cancel those ballots.
The federal government’s initial demand was issued Oct. 13 by acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter, who directed California officials to examine a list supplied by federal investigators within 48 hours.
The letter stated that the government believed the individuals on the list were likely noncitizens who had been sent vote-by-mail ballots.
McCotter requested that election officials segregate ballots when citizenship could not be confirmed and suspend processing until eligibility could be determined.
When California declined to implement those measures, federal prosecutors filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
In its federal complaint, the Justice Department alleged that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Homeland Security Investigations had identified approximately 20,000 people registered to vote in California who were likely noncitizens.
Federal prosecutors argued that allowing ineligible individuals to vote would violate federal election law and dilute the votes of eligible citizens.
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the lawsuit in the Justice Department’s Oct. 15 announcement.
“State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America,” Blanche said.
He added that the department would continue investigating allegations of unlawful voting and pursuing cases against individuals suspected of violating federal election statutes.
The Justice Department has also initiated criminal prosecutions stemming from its investigation.
Earlier this week, federal authorities charged 28 people identified through the California voter investigation with offenses involving allegedly unlawful voter registration. Some were additionally accused of voting illegally or making false statements during naturalization proceedings.
The charges remain allegations, and the criminal cases do not establish that every individual on the larger federal list is ineligible to vote.
Federal prosecutors have nevertheless argued that election officials could face legal consequences if they knowingly process ballots cast by noncitizens.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned Friday that election officials who knowingly process such ballots risk legal jeopardy.
In a social media statement, Essayli said California had failed to verify citizenship and that federal investigators had provided the state with information identifying suspected ineligible voters.
He also cited federal criminal statutes prohibiting noncitizen voting in federal elections and aiding or abetting federal offenses.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office responded publicly to Essayli’s claims, directing attention to reporting about the Los Angeles County findings.
The governor’s office wrote, “You actually didn’t,” in response to Essayli’s assertion that federal investigators had done the work of identifying noncitizens.
California officials contend that a federal list identifying individuals as suspected noncitizens cannot, by itself, establish that those individuals are legally ineligible to vote.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan said the Justice Department had not provided sufficient supporting evidence for its accusations.
In an Oct. 15 statement, Logan said the county had received a statewide list that included people outside Los Angeles County and lacked the information necessary to establish voter ineligibility.
“The Department of Justice has not provided the underlying evidence, source, or methodology supporting its assertions that individuals identified in its records are ineligible to vote,” Logan said.
He added, “We cannot withhold or refuse to count ballots based solely on unverified allegations, nor can we disregard the legal requirements governing our election.”
The litigation has also moved to the federal appeals court.
On Thursday, Oct. 22, the Justice Department asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene after U.S. District Judge David O. Carter did not rule by the deadline federal prosecutors had requested on their emergency application to restrict ballot counting.
Federal attorneys characterized the absence of an immediate ruling as a constructive denial of their request, although Carter had scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, Oct. 27.
California has opposed the requested injunction, arguing that the federal government’s proposed restrictions could interfere with election administration and prevent eligible voters from having their ballots counted.
A separate federal ruling issued Thursday addressed related concerns about the administration’s broader noncitizen voting investigation.
U.S. District Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín in Oakland ordered federal authorities to temporarily halt certain voter investigations in nine states until polls close Nov. 3, citing concerns about unreliable data and potential voter intimidation. The ruling was temporarily stayed to allow the administration to seek appellate review.
The Justice Department maintains that its investigations are intended to enforce the federal prohibition against noncitizen voting and protect the integrity of elections.
California election officials maintain that voter eligibility must be determined through established verification procedures and that the government has not demonstrated that its list is sufficiently reliable to justify withholding ballots.
More than 23 million registered California voters were sent ballots this month, and state officials reported that more than 330,000 mail ballots had already been counted as the federal litigation continued.
The federal government’s latest county-level demands remain unresolved, with election officials reviewing the requests and consulting state authorities as the Nov. 3 election approaches.
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