Federal prosecutors have demanded that California county election officials verify and set aside ballots from alleged noncitizen voters within 48 hours or face legal action. The demands, which concern California noncitizen ballots, were sent in letters on Friday to county registrars across the state, according to CBS News US.
The letters ask local officials to set aside and verify ballots that the Justice Department said may belong to noncitizens, according to CBS News US. The letter sent to San Bernardino County says the government’s list of suspected noncitizen voters includes 1,133 people from that county, according to NBC News.
For voters whose citizenship cannot be confirmed, the letter says counties should segregate, not cancel, their vote-by-mail ballots until citizenship is determined, according to NBC News. The Justice Department also asks counties for information on suspected noncitizen voters, including Social Security numbers, ID information and a copy of their registration, according to ABC News US.
California’s secretary of state and the Los Angeles County registrar oppose the demands. State lawyers argue that the federal data is unreliable and that the requests risk disenfranchising citizens, according to ABC News US.
Earlier in the week, a statewide federal sweep charged 28 people from a list of 20,000 with illegally registering to vote, according to CBS News US and ABC News US. No court records or Justice Department statement are cited for those charges.
The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has filed 31 lawsuits seeking unredacted state voter rolls, and CBS News US reports that the department has lost 26 of those cases, with no legal victories so far. CBS News US also reports that data shows illegal voting by noncitizens is incredibly rare, difficult to prove, and has not been shown to change race outcomes. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said in a statement that the DOJ has not provided evidence for its claims of massive voter fraud and lacks authority to interfere.
The sources disagree on how many counties received letters. NBC News says letters were sent Friday to 57 of California’s 58 counties. ABC News US and CBS News US, citing the Los Angeles County registrar’s office, say at least 18 counties have received similar letters. The sources do not reconcile the two counts.
The sources also differ on the timing of a request to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. NBC News says the administration asked the court on Thursday to impose restrictions before the lower court rules. CBS News US and ABC News US say the request was made on Friday, with a deadline set for Saturday. The sources also give different spellings of the First Assistant U.S. Attorney’s name: NBC News uses Bilal Essayli, while ABC News US and CBS News US use Bill Essayli.
A hearing on the lawsuit against Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State’s office is scheduled for Tuesday. The outcome of the 9th Circuit request is not yet known. Counties were given 48 hours to respond to the letters, and no county response is reported. Reporting so far does not name counties other than San Bernardino and Los Angeles, and the 1,133-name and 20,000-voter lists have not been independently verified.
Sources
This article was written with AI assistance from the published reporting listed above. It is part of the World Brief daily news podcast.