The Justice Department has ordered California election officials to review names on a federal list of people who may be noncitizens, or hold their mail ballots, according to letters dated Oct. 13. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter signed the letters, which were addressed to Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan. The state has 48 hours to respond, the letters say, and the department warned that it could go to court if the deadline passes.
The letters were first reported by Reuters, and CBS News, CNN and the Los Angeles Times reviewed copies. The Justice Department said it gave Logan’s office a locked USB stick holding names the government considers likely noncitizens who were sent mail ballots for the Nov. 3 midterm election. McCotter asked officials to segregate, rather than cancel, the ballots of anyone whose citizenship they cannot confirm. He also asked that ballots not be sent to listed voters who have not yet received one.
Neither Weber’s office nor Logan’s office had publicly responded to requests for comment by Wednesday, the Times reported. An official in Logan’s office confirmed receiving the letter, CBS News reported.
Disputed figures on noncitizen voters
The demand follows a July letter from Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who told California and three other states that federal data showed noncitizens were registered to vote there. Fortune and CNN put the figure at as many as 250,000 across California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Times described a claim of more than 190,000 noncitizen voters in California alone. Weber has said she has “serious doubts” about the data, saying her office had never provided its statewide voter list to DHS or to any federal body.
Earlier federal claims have not held up well. CNN reported that DHS first cited 15,900 possible noncitizen registrants in Nevada, later confirmed 185 through manual review, and that Nevada officials said their own review found all 185 were citizens. DHS disputes that conclusion, CNN reported. Federal prosecutors have brought roughly 90 cases this year over election misconduct, including 50 accused of voting as noncitizens, according to the Associated Press, as cited by Fortune.
Legal questions and timing
The Justice Department has also sued states for unredacted voter rolls. CBS News reported that the department has lost 26 of those cases without a legal win, while CNN reported the department has sued 30 states and lost every case in which a judge has ruled, including one in California. The count of lawsuits differs between the two reports.
David Becker, who once worked in the DOJ voting section, told CNN that California mailed ballots to all voters on Oct. 5 and questioned why the department would raise the matter now. The Times quoted UCLA Law professor Rick Hasen, who said the demand may conflict with a federal rule that bars systematic voter purges within 90 days of an election. Hasen called the department’s actions “legally questionable.” He noted that the Supreme Court will hear a related Arizona case in December on whether that rule covers removing noncitizens.
CNN reported that it is unclear what legal authority would compel state officials to carry out the requested steps, because states hold the primary role in running elections. Even some Republican election officials have resisted similar Justice Department proposals to purge voters, CNN reported.
What happens next
The Justice Department said it will take “all necessary legal action” to protect election integrity, spokesperson Kiersten Pels told CNN. The letters warn that the department “will have no choice but to seek emergency relief” if the state does not comply. None of the reports say when the 48-hour period began, and the state’s response had not been made public as of Wednesday.
Still unknown are whether California will meet the deadline, whether the department will file suit, and how any ballot segregation would affect voters in Los Angeles County before the November election.
