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Trump Administration Sues California Over Voter Rolls
Confirmed
In Short: Bonta also pointed out that the Trump administration was violating a federal law that prohibits states from changing voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
The Department of Justice on Thursday filed a lawsuit against California, alleging that the state has allowed noncitizens to vote and seeking to block 20,000 people from voting in the upcoming midterm elections.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement, “State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America.” The lawsuit follows an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) which reviewed voter registration data for possible foreigners registered to vote.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded, “California's election administration will continue to be governed by applicable federal and state law, not by unsubstantiated claims and outrageous demands.” She added, “This is an emergency of the DOJ’s creation.”
Weber also noted that the password to access the list of alleged noncitizens was written on a sticky note, raising questions about the security and reliability of the data.
Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan stated that his office received a thumb drive with a list of 20,000 names, but he cannot withhold ballots or refuse to count them based solely on unverified allegations.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta criticized the lawsuit, calling it an example of President Donald Trump spreading “absolutely false conspiracy theories that there is widespread voter fraud when there is not.”
The lawsuit comes after the Justice Department said California officials failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected thumb drive containing a list of 20,000 names believed to be noncitizens.
The secretary of state's office said California requires only U.S. citizens to register to vote and that those who are not eligible are removed from the voter rolls.
The federal government did not specify where the 20,000 voters were concentrated, but the list was sent directly to Los Angeles County.
The lawsuit raises questions about the reliability of the data and the methodology used by the federal government to identify noncitizens on the voter rolls.
Despite the allegations, California officials maintain that they will defend free and fair elections in the state and call out any attempts to undermine democracy.
Background
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) filed a lawsuit Wednesday in federal court in Washington, alleging that President Donald Trump illegally used $20 million in federal funds for partisan propaganda ads.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s emergency bid to enforce new U.S. Postal Service (USPS) restrictions on mail-in ballots ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, leaving a lower court’s nationwide block in place.
What's confirmed
- It also 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.
- READ MORE: Justice Department threatens California with legal action over claim of noncitizens on voter rolls The lawsuit comes after the Justice Department said 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.
- She referenced an instance in which the federal government alleged nearly 16,000 possible noncitizens were listed on Nevada's voter rolls, but the state determined that all were, in fact, U.S.
- "demanding unprecedented measures that threaten thousands of Californians' right to vote, based on unverifiable information or methodology that you still fail to explain or provide."
What's still developing
- “If you cannot implement this process by then, given the ongoing federal election, the United States will have no choice but to seek emergency relief,” the letter states.
- “Now the USDOJ, under threat of ‘emergency’ litigation, demands that California blindly trust this administration without any evidence or legal authority to justify its request,” Weber said in the statement.
- “Federal and state laws are clear on how voter eligibility is established,” Logan wrote.
- "What happened to those 170,000. They just got those wrong," Bonta said.
- “Despite failing to send the list of alleged non-citizens to my office, you demand that we request transmittal of the list, review and confirm the citizenship status of each of the approximately 20,000 individuals on the list on the eve of an election and within a mere 48 hours,” she wrote.
- California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the top state official tasked with administering elections, responded to the letters, saying in a three-page letter that she wanted to “set the record straight” on events that transpired since July.
- “The United States thus seeks commonplace election relief when a ballot is called into question,” the lawsuit says.
Sources
- ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videoslink
- Justthenewslink
- PBSlink
- Al Jazeeralink
- News4Jaxlink
- Justthenewslink
- WarpBeat — background on DNC Sues Trump Over $20M in Taxpayer-Funded Ads link
- WarpBeat — background on Trump administration again asks for emergency relief link
- ABC7 News Bay Area — video link