Justice Department warns California election workers they risk prosecution if they count ballots it flagged as noncitizen

The Justice Department warned Friday that California election workers who count mail ballots from people the federal government has flagged as likely noncitizens could face criminal investigation, a day after it sued the state to keep those ballots from being tabulated.

The letter, from acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter and first reported by The Associated Press, went to the Los Angeles County Counsel's office, with copies to Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan.

"If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime," it says, according to the AP.

The lawsuit

The suit, filed Thursday, Oct. 15, asks a federal judge to bar California from counting vote-by-mail ballots from roughly 20,000 people on a federal list of likely noncitizens until their citizenship can be determined. California mails a ballot to every registered voter.

The list was delivered to Los Angeles County on a password-protected thumb drive. The Justice Department sued after state officials did not meet a 48-hour deadline it set to review the names.

McCotter's earlier letter told the state to have local election officials set aside mail ballots from anyone whose citizenship could not be independently verified, and not to send ballots to anyone on the list who had not received one yet.

"State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement Thursday. The complaint says the federal government tried to "work collaboratively" with California and that the state "made no serious effort" to do so, according to the AP.

California's response

Weber, who is named in the suit, said the Department of Homeland Security claimed over the summer that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls but would not share its methods or data sources when her office asked. Her office says the administration has provided no evidence for the 20,000 figure.

Logan said the drive arrived with a handwritten password and that he did not consider it a secure device.

Gov. Gavin Newsom called the suit "a sad, desperate attempt" to suppress California voters three weeks before Election Day and said the state will keep running free and fair elections.

UCLA law professor Rick Hasen told the AP that Friday's letter "ups the ante by threatening election officials with potential criminal prosecution."

How common is it

The Justice Department has charged about 90 people this year with election misconduct, including 50 accused of voting as noncitizens, according to the AP; more than 227 million Americans were registered to vote in 2024. In July, the administration said Nevada had 1,500 noncitizens on its rolls.

After the names were shared with the state, the number of registered noncitizens turned out to be zero, the AP reported.

California has more than 23 million registered voters. Ballots for the Nov. 3 election are already in voters' hands.

Sources

pbs.org

scrippsnews.com