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DOJ Sues California Over Noncitizen Ballots
· Confirmed
In Short: The Ninth Circuit ordered California to respond to an emergency Justice Department request seeking to set aside ballots tied to roughly 20,000 suspected noncitizens ahead of the midterm elections.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against California on Thursday, demanding the state verify a list of alleged noncitizen voters within 48 hours before the midterm elections.
According to the lawsuit, the DOJ mailed county election officials a password-protected thumb drive containing a list of suspected noncitizens on voter rolls.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded to the DOJ's request, stating that it was impractical to investigate thousands of individuals in such a short timeframe.
Weber noted that even if California had received a full 48 hours, reviewing 20,000 names would amount to about 417 voters every hour, around the clock.
The Ninth Circuit ordered California to respond to an emergency Justice Department request seeking to set aside ballots tied to roughly 20,000 suspected noncitizens ahead of the midterm elections.
In a letter to Los Angeles County officials, DOJ warned that knowingly counting ballots from people federal agencies had identified as noncitizens could make election workers criminally liable.
However, California officials say the administration has provided no evidence to substantiate its claims.
Election experts are warning the Supreme Court that affirming a lower court's ruling could mean that noncitizens, minors, or fictitious people listed on state voter rolls could be impossible to remove.
The Trump administration has previously threatened legal action against California if state and local election officials did not review a list of alleged noncitizens on Los Angeles’ voter rolls within 48 hours.
The Justice Department spokeswoman Kiersten Pels confirmed the letter’s existence and said, “The department will take all necessary legal action to protect election integrity and ensure compliance with federal law.”
The lawsuit was filed forty-eight hours after DOJ mailed county election officials a password-protected thumb drive purportedly containing a list of alleged noncitizen voters.
In Contra Costa County, where authorities received a list containing 407 names, officials said they would continue processing ballots normally rather than immediately setting them aside.
What's confirmed
- “This should not be controversial, as the criminal statute is clear: only American citizens may vote in federal elections,” DOJ spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said in a statement.
- California, a universal vote-by-mail state, began sending ballots to its more than 20 million voters on Oct. 5.
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.
- "Every minute of processing that occurs without segregating the ballots of suspected non-eligible voters causes untraceable disenfranchisement and dilution of the votes of United States citizens," the filing continued.
- Trump amplified the threat on Truth Social : “They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!” The administration’s tactics in California mirror what the Department of Homeland Security tried in Nevada, where Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed nearly 16,000 noncitizens were on the voter rolls and sent a letter to state officials pressuring them to review each case.
- "Citizenship is a qualification for voting. If states are going to enforce that requirement, they have to be able to verify it," Justin Riemer, president and CEO of Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
- The Supreme Court kept on hold new Postal Service requirements for mail ballots, while courts have also halted parts of Trump’s 2025 executive order imposing new requirements related to proof of citizenship in voter registration.
- For individuals whose citizenship could not be independently confirmed, McCotter demanded that officials set aside their ballots until their status was resolved.
- CNN adds escalation language and The Independent calls it an “explosive” showdown; several titles explicitly preserve the alleged status of the noncitizen claims, and some repeat wire copy.
- Published: 00:36 EDT, 24 October 2026 | Updated: 00:36 EDT, 24 October 2026 With the November 3 elections rapidly approaching, federal prosecutors are demanding that California counties help investigate thousands of people suspected of being illegally registered to vote.
- California has more than 23 million registered voters, and more than 330,000 mail ballots had already been counted, according to state court filings.
- But state officials insist the government's information is unreliable and warn that eligible American voters could have their ballots improperly withheld.
- Webber said her office does due diligence to investigate reports of ineligible voters incorrectly on the rolls, but it would take more than 48 hours to even begin to get the full picture.