The Trump administration sued California election officials Thursday, asking a judge to bar the state from counting mail-in ballots for next month's midterm elections from people the federal government has identified as “likely” noncitizens until their status can be confirmed.
The lawsuit comes after the Justice Department says California officials failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected thumb drive that contains a list of 20,000 names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election. The state mails ballots to all registered voters. A top Justice Department official had sent a letter earlier this week threatening potential legal action if California didn't comply.
“State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America,” said Attorney General Todd Blanche in a statement on Thursday. “If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated laws that protect our nation’s representative system of government. The Department of Justice will continue working to uncover cases of voter fraud, hold fraudsters accountable, and restore trust in American elections.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a statement in response:
“This is a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day. The courts have made clear that the federal government has no role in how a state carries out its election process, and now, in the middle of Californians voting, they have asked local officials — who do a damn good job defending democracy — to violate federal law. A totally unprecedented request that should scare the hell out of every American. We will continue to carry out free and fair elections in the Golden State — and call out this authoritarian as he tries every play in the dictator's playbook.”
Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan said in a statement that his office received the letter and thumb drive this week, along with a “hand written note providing a password” to access the list of alleged noncitizens on the voter rolls. He said he did not consider the thumb drive a secure device. The secretary of state’s office said the password was written “on a sticky note."
The Justice Department's lawsuit says the federal government sought to “work collaboratively” with California to identify noncitizens registered to vote in the state, and “California made no serious effort to do so.”
“The United States thus seeks commonplace election relief when a ballot is called into question,” the lawsuit says. "This Court should enjoin California from presently tabulating vote by-mail ballots from likely noncitizens in the upcoming federal election until the voter’s citizenship status can be determined," the lawsuit says.
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In a statement issued late Wednesday, the secretary of state's office suggested the federal government's outreach had not been collaborative.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat who also is named in the lawsuit, said that over the summer, the Department of Homeland Security claimed that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls but refused to provide the methodology or data sources when the office asked for them.
Her office and the office of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment on Thursday. In a social media post Wednesday, Newsom called the Trump administration's request “more dangerous nonsense from a President losing his grip on reality.”
"California’s elections are NOT Donald Trump’s to control. We will ensure EVERY California voter can participate in a free and fair election," Newsom wrote.
Isaac Bryan, a California assemblymember representing Los Angeles, denounced the lawsuit at a press conference on Thursday.
“California has some of the most secure and safe election protocols of any state in the country,” he said. “In addition, we’ve done something that is also critically important, and that is making sure that every eligible voter feels safe to cast their vote and ensure that that vote is counted.”
The letter sent by acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter gave the state 48 hours to determine whether any citizens are included on the list. For individuals whose citizenship cannot be independently verified, the state is to instruct local election officials to segregate their mail-in ballots until their status can be determined, and to not provide a ballot to anyone who has not yet received it.
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The Trump administration has made the hunt for noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though the problem is exceptionally rare. The Justice Department has charged about 90 people for various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens. There were more than 227 million registered voters in the United States during the 2024 presidential election.
In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, alleging that as many as 250,000 noncitizens were registered in those states. Election officials in those states were skeptical of the claim, including Weber, the California secretary of state.
“I have serious doubts about the reliability of your data and accuracy of your claims, since my office has not shared our statewide voter registration list with DHS or any other federal agency or official,” Weber said in response.
