California election officials have dismissed a US Justice Department list of 20,000 people deemed “likely” non-citizens registered to vote as unreliable, warning that some individuals identified may in fact have been born in the United States.
Los Angeles County officials disclosed the findings in court papers filed in response to a federal lawsuit seeking to force California to investigate the voters before their ballots are counted.
The Justice Department has asked the state to segregate ballots linked to those on the list. California officials argue that carrying out the request so close to the election would be impractical and could breach federal and state election laws.
The county said its preliminary analysis had found that some of the people named had indicated they were US-born and may therefore be citizens entitled to vote.
The dispute comes as state and local authorities resist federal pressure to take action against thousands of registered voters based on the Justice Department’s assessment of their citizenship status.
Officials have not said how many names on the list are believed to be inaccurate, but their court filing described the data as insufficiently reliable to justify separating associated ballots.
The Justice Department’s demand forms part of a wider legal challenge over the handling of voter registration records in California, with the state maintaining that the proposed checks cannot be completed lawfully or effectively before voting concludes.
