The Justice Department sued California election officials Thursday, asking a federal judge to stop the state from counting Nov. 3 mail ballots from more than 20,000 people the Trump administration says are likely noncitizens until their status is confirmed.
DOJ said California failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected list delivered on a thumb drive. California mails ballots to all registered voters. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter had threatened legal action if the state did not segregate those ballots.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber said the federal government had not provided evidence or a clear methodology and noted voting is already under way. She cited a Nevada episode in which thousands of flagged names proved to be citizens. Attorney General Rob Bonta said California would not withhold ballots and argued the demand violates a federal rule against changing voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan said he did not treat the thumb drive — with a sticky-note password — as a secure device. Noncitizen voting is rare; DOJ has charged about 50 people this year for allegedly voting as noncitizens among more than 227 million registered voters in 2024.
Sources: PBS / AP, Reuters via Devdiscourse. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: Radomianin / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
