President Trump’s Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against California on Thursday, accusing state election officials of failing to address more than 20,000 registered voters whom federal investigators believe may not be American citizens.
The legal action comes less than three weeks before the November 3 midterm elections and follows a 48-hour ultimatum demanding that California officials investigate the individuals identified by the Department of Homeland Security.
Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to prevent California from counting mail-in ballots associated with those individuals until their citizenship can be independently verified.
The lawsuit names the State of California, Democratic Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan as defendants.
The Justice Department argues that California’s refusal to act on the federal government’s findings threatens the integrity of the upcoming election.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the lawsuit Thursday, declaring that allowing ineligible individuals to participate in federal elections would undermine public confidence in the electoral process.
The administration maintains that federal authorities have identified approximately 20,000 people whose immigration records suggest they may be noncitizens despite appearing on California’s voter rolls.
The findings were developed through an investigation involving U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Homeland Security Investigations.
According to the federal complaint, investigators analyzed voter-registration information and compared it with records maintained by federal immigration and other government agencies.
The Justice Department says investigators used multiple identifying details to evaluate whether individuals listed as registered voters were likely to be noncitizens.
Those records reportedly included information obtained through the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration and the State Department.
Federal officials maintain that their analysis produced strong matches involving approximately 20,000 individuals.
However, the government has not publicly established that every person on the list is ineligible to vote.
The distinction is important because immigration databases can contain outdated information, including records for individuals who subsequently became naturalized American citizens.
The administration nevertheless argues that the findings are sufficiently serious to require an immediate review before ballots are counted.
California automatically mails ballots to registered voters, a policy that has been in place statewide since 2022.
As a result, the Justice Department contends that individuals flagged by investigators may already have received ballots for the upcoming federal election.
The lawsuit states that many of the identified voters have addresses in Los Angeles County.
Federal prosecutors argue that allowing those ballots to be counted without additional verification could result in votes being included from individuals who are not legally eligible to participate.
Noncitizens are prohibited from voting in federal elections under existing federal law.
The Justice Department is not asking the court to invalidate every mail-in ballot in California.
Instead, the administration wants election officials to separate ballots associated with the identified individuals and withhold them from tabulation until citizenship can be confirmed.
The government argues that this approach would protect the votes of eligible American citizens while allowing individuals who establish their citizenship to have their ballots counted.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli criticized California’s response, saying state officials had been given an opportunity to investigate the suspected registrations but declined to take the requested action.
Essayli argued that federal intervention was necessary to ensure that ballots cast by eligible citizens were not affected by potentially unlawful votes.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin also defended the investigation, saying federal agencies had examined voter-registration information alongside immigration records.
Mullin described the findings as preliminary but maintained that the apparent presence of suspected noncitizens on the rolls warranted further scrutiny.
The investigation remains ongoing, and officials have not disclosed how many of the identified individuals, if any, have actually cast ballots unlawfully.
The lawsuit follows an ultimatum delivered to California election officials on October 13.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent letters demanding that the state review the list and take steps to prevent ballots associated with suspected noncitizens from being counted without verification.
The letters gave officials just 48 hours to respond before the federal government pursued emergency court action.
Los Angeles County officials confirmed receiving a USB drive containing the names of individuals flagged by federal investigators.
However, Logan’s office declined to access the device, citing concerns about the security of the information and the method used to transmit it.
County officials said the drive was accompanied by a handwritten password and did not meet their standards for securely receiving sensitive voter information.
Logan also argued that election officials cannot cancel voter registrations based solely on unverified allegations or database matches.
California law requires reliable evidence before an individual’s registration can be canceled.
The county maintained that protecting voter eligibility and preventing wrongful removal from the rolls are both essential responsibilities of election administrators.
Secretary of State Weber also rejected the federal government’s demands.
In a written response, Weber accused the Justice Department of creating an unnecessary emergency immediately before the election.
She argued that federal authorities had not adequately explained how they identified the suspected noncitizens or provided evidence establishing that the individuals were ineligible.
Weber also questioned why her office had not directly received the list that federal officials expected the state to review.
She said verifying the citizenship status of approximately 20,000 people within 48 hours would be an extraordinary undertaking, particularly during the final weeks of election preparations.
The secretary of state maintained that California already has procedures for identifying and removing ineligible voters.
She also warned that acting on inaccurate information could prevent eligible American citizens from having their votes counted.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta similarly condemned the lawsuit, accusing the administration of attempting to interfere with election administration.
Bonta argued that the federal government’s demands could conflict with state and federal protections governing voter registration and election procedures.
He also raised concerns about federal restrictions on large-scale voter-roll removals shortly before an election.
Under the National Voter Registration Act, states generally face limitations on systematic voter-list maintenance programs during the 90 days preceding a federal election.
Those protections are intended to reduce the risk that eligible voters will be mistakenly removed too close to Election Day to correct errors.
The Trump administration’s lawsuit raises questions about how those protections apply when federal authorities identify individuals they believe may be ineligible.
The Justice Department argues that its request is designed to prevent unlawful votes from being counted rather than to conduct an ordinary voter-roll maintenance program.
California officials dispute that characterization and contend that the proposed restrictions could disenfranchise legitimate voters.
The disagreement is likely to become a central issue as the case proceeds through federal court.
The administration’s latest findings also differ significantly from an earlier estimate involving California’s voter rolls.
In July, federal officials suggested that as many as 190,000 suspected noncitizens might be registered to vote in the state.
Thursday’s lawsuit focuses on approximately 20,000 individuals.
The Justice Department has not fully explained the difference between the two figures.
California officials have cited that discrepancy as a reason to question the reliability of the federal government’s methodology.
They have also pointed to previous disputes in other states where federal investigations produced substantially smaller numbers after additional verification.
In Nevada, for example, federal authorities initially identified thousands of suspected noncitizens on voter rolls.
Subsequent reviews sharply reduced the number of potentially problematic records, and state officials said the individuals ultimately examined were citizens.
That experience has fueled concerns among election administrators about relying on immigration databases without additional confirmation.
Federal records may reflect an individual’s status at an earlier point in time rather than their current citizenship.
Naturalized citizens are legally entitled to vote in federal elections once they satisfy the same registration and eligibility requirements as other American citizens.
Consequently, a database match suggesting that someone previously held noncitizen status does not necessarily establish current ineligibility.
The Trump administration maintains that its investigation involved multiple verification methods intended to reduce those errors.
Federal officials have not publicly released the complete underlying evidence for each person identified.
The dispute therefore involves not only the legality of noncitizen voting, which is already prohibited, but also the reliability of the government’s evidence and the procedures used to evaluate it.
Election officials must determine eligibility without improperly excluding citizens who have the right to vote.
The Justice Department’s lawsuit also raises constitutional questions concerning the division of election authority between federal and state governments.
States administer federal elections under rules established by the Constitution and applicable federal laws.
Congress has authority to regulate aspects of federal election administration, but the executive branch’s power to direct state officials is subject to legal limits.
The administration argues that California’s actions interfere with the enforcement of federal election laws prohibiting noncitizen voting.
Its complaint invokes the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause, which establishes that valid federal law takes precedence over conflicting state law.
California officials maintain that they are following applicable election laws and that the federal government has not demonstrated grounds for the extraordinary relief it is seeking.
A federal judge will have to consider those competing arguments and determine whether an injunction is legally justified.
The lawsuit does not establish that 20,000 noncitizens have voted in California.
It alleges that approximately 20,000 registered individuals are likely noncitizens and that the state has not taken sufficient action to verify their status before counting ballots.
That distinction will be important in evaluating the government’s request.
The administration’s broader efforts to examine state voter rolls have generated similar disputes around the country.
Federal agencies have sought voter-registration information from numerous states as part of an initiative to identify potentially ineligible registrants.
Several Democratic-led states have challenged those requests, arguing that they raise privacy concerns and exceed the federal government’s authority.
The Justice Department maintains that access to voter information is necessary to enforce federal election laws and protect election integrity.
Voting-rights organizations have responded by warning that flawed matching systems can incorrectly identify citizens as noncitizens.
Research and previous election investigations have generally found confirmed noncitizen voting to be uncommon, although the administration argues that existing safeguards may fail to identify some violations.
The disagreement has become increasingly contentious as the midterm elections approach.
President Trump has repeatedly called for stronger citizenship verification requirements and tighter oversight of voter-registration procedures.
His administration has emphasized the importance of preventing ineligible individuals from receiving or casting ballots.
Democratic officials argue that existing laws already prohibit noncitizen voting and that new federal restrictions could create unnecessary obstacles for eligible voters.
The California lawsuit brings those competing positions into a direct legal confrontation.
The timing is particularly significant because ballots have already been mailed to voters across the state.
Los Angeles County began sending vote-by-mail ballots on October 1, meaning the election process was underway before the Justice Department issued its ultimatum.
Any court-ordered changes would therefore need to account for ballots already distributed and potentially returned.
That creates practical questions about how election officials could identify and separate ballots without interfering with the rights of eligible voters.
The federal government wants ballots associated with the flagged individuals withheld until citizenship verification is completed.
California officials argue that the proposed process has not been adequately justified and could disrupt election administration.
The case could move quickly because of the approaching November 3 election.
The Justice Department is seeking emergency judicial intervention rather than waiting for the normal pace of litigation.
A court ruling could determine whether California must take additional steps concerning the disputed voter records before ballots are counted.
The decision may also influence similar disputes involving other states and federal efforts to verify voter eligibility.
For the Trump administration, the lawsuit is part of a broader effort to enforce citizenship requirements and challenge election procedures it considers insufficient.
For California, the case represents another confrontation with Washington over the limits of federal authority and the administration of state elections.
Both sides say they are defending the integrity of the voting process, but they disagree sharply over what the available evidence establishes and which actions the law permits.
The immediate question before the court is whether federal investigators have provided a sufficient legal and factual basis to restrict the counting of ballots associated with approximately 20,000 registered voters.
Until their citizenship status is independently established, those individuals remain suspected noncitizens rather than confirmed ineligible voters.
With Election Day approaching, the federal lawsuit places California’s voter-verification procedures under intense scrutiny while raising important questions about how to prevent unlawful voting without excluding eligible American citizens.
The post Trump DOJ Sues California Over 20,000 Suspected Noncitizens on Voter Rolls, Demands Ballots Be Blocked Until Citizenship Is Verified appeared first on Real News Now.
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