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California Must Verify Ballots for Noncitizens Within 48 Hours
Confirmed
In Short: California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded to the DOJ, stating that it is not practicable or feasible to investigate thousands of individuals on the eve of an election within a mere 48 hours.
Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday, demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice believes may belong to noncitizens.
The Justice Department has given counties a 48-hour deadline to provide identifying information corresponding with ballots that the federal government suspects were sent to noncitizens illegally registered to vote.
The letter requests that county officials also sequester any ballots where citizenship cannot be verified.
The Trump administration filed a lawsuit against California on Thursday, accusing the state of harboring noncitizens on its voter rolls.
The Ninth Circuit ordered California to respond to the emergency request, setting a deadline for Saturday.
The Justice Department is asking counties to send information about the voters it suspects are noncitizens, including Social Security numbers, ID information, a copy of their registration, and more.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded to the DOJ, stating that it is not practicable or feasible to investigate thousands of individuals on the eve of an election within a mere 48 hours.
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.
In a statement, Logan said his office cannot withhold ballots or refuse to count them based solely on unverified allegations.
The Department of Justice’s new demand that California election officials prevent an unverified federal list of alleged noncitizens from voting or face legal action appears to be a plausible threat.
California said in its filing, “At best, this litigation is a reckless political stunt. At worst, it threatens to disenfranchise thousands of Californians this election.”
What this adds
The escalation comes after the Trump administration initially filed the suit on October 15, roughly two weeks after California began mailing ballots.
What's confirmed
- Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday, demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice said may belong to noncitizens.
- They have been given a 48-hour deadline to provide identifying information corresponding with ballots that the federal government believes were sent to noncitizens illegally registered to vote.
- A California couple’s surrogate, who refused their wishes to have an abortion, is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene in a custody dispute over the 4-week-old child who was born with a serious heart defect.
- West is asking the nation’s highest court to halt a California order that recognizes Omar Ahmed and Nausheen Gilkar as his parents.
What's still developing
- Friday's escalation comes after Essayli's office initially filed the suit Oct. 15, roughly two weeks after California began mailing ballots.
- Attorney Bilal Essayli notes that his office is providing a list of 1,133 names of “likely aliens.” “Within 48 hours, we ask that you commit to working with DOJ and DHS to identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not,” Essayli wrote.
- National research shows emergency room visits connected to self-harm climbed through 2021, and the numbers remain elevated above pandemic-levels in California even as other indicators of mental distress have declined.
- But the courts are shutting those efforts down, too; the Trump administration is 0–26 in those cases, with Republican-appointed judges delivering some of those defeats.
- Photos shared by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Northern California and Kansas City showed agents knocking on doors as part of investigations into alleged noncitizen voting—something the Trump administration has been raising concerns about since January 2025.
- West wants final custody or conservatorship because she believes the couple will not provide life-saving care, citing their request for an abortion at 23 weeks.
- Gilkar called West unstable during a hearing Aug. 25 in Dallas, telling the court she was trying to take their baby away.
- There have been court proceedings in Alaska, California and Texas, about the baby and who is legally allowed to make his medical decisions.