The US Department of Justice has sued California over alleged non-citizen voting, asking a federal court to stop the state counting postal ballots from about 20,000 people it says are likely not US citizens.
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday, came after California failed to meet a 48-hour deadline to examine a list supplied by federal authorities and set aside ballots from voters whose citizenship could not be independently confirmed.
The Justice Department said the list was compiled by Homeland Security Investigations and federal immigration agencies using voter-registration records and immigration data. It alleges that the individuals identified had been sent ballots for the 3 November federal election.
Federal prosecutors are seeking an order requiring California to keep the ballots separate until the voters’ citizenship status has been established. The department has not publicly produced evidence confirming that the people on the list are non-citizens.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said her office was given no access to the list and accused the Justice Department of demanding that officials act on unverified information just 21 days before the election.
The list was delivered to the Los Angeles County registrar on a password-protected thumb drive, with the password written on a note, according to the county and the secretary of state’s office. Dean Logan, the county registrar, said ballots could not be withheld or rejected solely on the basis of unverified allegations.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said state officials would not comply with the request to withhold the ballots. He also argued that the administration’s demand could breach federal restrictions on systematic changes to voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
Governor Gavin Newsom described the legal action as an attempt by President Donald Trump to suppress voting in California shortly before the midterm election. The Justice Department has rejected the suggestion that the case is political, saying it is seeking to prevent the votes of American citizens being diluted.
California mails a ballot to every registered voter under state law. The case now places the handling of the disputed ballots before a federal court while voting is already under way.
