WASHINGTON — The Trump administration warned California election officials on Friday that workers who tabulate ballots submitted by suspected noncitizens could face criminal investigations and federal prosecution, escalating an ongoing clash between Washington and the nation’s most populous state weeks before the midterm elections.
In a letter sent to the Los Angeles County counsel’s office and obtained by the Associated Press, acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter stated that noncitizen voting in federal contests constitutes a crime and that facilitating such activity is unlawful. McCotter warned that individuals who knowingly process ballots from people identified by federal agencies as noncitizens could be treated as aiders and abettors, The Guardian reported.
The warning was also copied to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan. President Donald Trump later amplified the letter on Truth Social, posting: “They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!”
Escalating legal confrontation
The Justice Department’s threat follows a federal lawsuit filed Thursday against California. The administration sued after state authorities declined to meet a 48-hour deadline to examine a password-protected thumb drive carrying 20,000 names, according to The Guardian. Federal officials asserted the list contained individuals likely not citizens who received ballots for the Nov. 3 election. California mails ballots to all registered voters.
Weber rejected the federal demands as legally baseless, calling them an effort to disrupt state election procedures. She said the department’s push to access voter rolls and force purges served only to sow confusion and erode public trust in voting, ABC News reported.
Legal scholars and voting rights advocates pushed back against the administration’s claims. UCLA law professor Rick Hasen said the federal government was escalating threats and issuing unreasonable demands beyond its authority during an active election, according to The Guardian. Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor and former Justice Department official, told the outlet that courts have consistently rejected such legal reasoning and said local election workers have the law on their side.
Midterm stakes and mail security
Documented cases of noncitizen voting remain extremely rare, according to voting analysts. The Justice Department has filed charges against roughly 50 individuals accused of voting without citizenship out of more than 227 million registered voters across the country during the 2024 presidential contest, The Guardian reported.
Sean Morales Doyle, an election specialist at the Brennan Center for Justice, told ABC News that the administration appeared to be preparing justifications to challenge voting outcomes after the election. California holds several competitive congressional races that analysts expect could determine party control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democratic lawmakers have pushed back against the administration’s actions. Sens. Alex Padilla of California, Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Dick Durbin of Illinois sent a joint letter to Attorney General Todd Blanche on Friday demanding that federal authorities commit to not confiscating ballots or election records before midterms are certified, The Guardian reported.
Meanwhile, local officials in the state are addressing separate ballot security issues after election mail was stolen in the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento County, the New York Post reported. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating those incidents, while election officials noted that voter verification safeguards prevent duplicate ballots from being counted.
With early mail voting underway across California, federal courts are expected to consider the Justice Department’s lawsuit in the coming days, while state officials have pledged to proceed with normal ballot processing under state law.
