Federal prosecutors gave local election officials 48 hours to verify voter information as an appeals court ordered a rapid response.
Federal prosecutors sent letters to election offices across California on Friday demanding that local officials set aside and verify mail-in ballots that the Justice Department alleges could belong to noncitizens, CBS News reported.
The demand reached at least 18 counties and imposed a 48-hour deadline to supply identifying voter records, including Social Security numbers, identification information, and registration forms. Local officials were told to sequester any ballots where citizenship cannot be verified. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned in the letters that “Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy.”
The story so far
The move marks an escalation after the DOJ sued California over voting rolls on Oct. 15. That federal lawsuit sought to bar Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State from counting ballots from roughly 20,000 individuals the government claims are likely noncitizens.
Appeals court orders fast response
Hours after sending the letters, the Trump administration took its case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, according to Fox News. The department requested emergency intervention because U.S. District Judge David Carter had not ruled by a deadline federal prosecutors had requested.
In an emergency filing signed by Attorney General Todd Blanche and Essayli, prosecutors wrote that “This is an emergency.” Blanche previously refused to rule out DOJ blocking election certification under extreme circumstances. The filing argued that every minute county workers spend handling unsegregated ballots dilutes the votes of eligible citizens.
The Ninth Circuit issued an order late Friday requiring California state officials to file a response to the emergency request by noon Saturday.
Demands on county registrars
Federal prosecutors said the voter records would allow state and federal authorities to quickly evaluate individuals suspected of unlawful registration, according to a letter sent to San Bernardino County. That county was told its local list includes 1,133 suspected individuals.
Essayli stated that federal investigators possess evidence showing the 20,000 targeted individuals received mail-in ballots in October. He described that 20,000 figure as a floor rather than a ceiling. Essayli also argued on social media during the week with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, accusing the state of maintaining inadequate verification standards, while Newsom maintained that California follows the law and protects election integrity.
California officials push back
The California Secretary of State and the Los Angeles County registrar have opposed the federal government’s demands in court, PBS NewsHour reported. State lawyers argued that the federal government’s data is unreliable and that complying would risk disenfranchising legal citizens while delaying the certification of the midterm election.
Election officials also explained that county workers lack access to federal citizenship databases. Furthermore, state officials said separating returned ballots is practically impossible once processing begins. California election workers examine the signature on a ballot envelope, verify it, and then detach the ballot from the envelope to protect voter privacy before counting it.
Sources offered slightly different figures on how many votes have already been processed under these procedures. S1 and S3 reported state filings showing that more than 330,000 mail-in ballots have already been counted statewide out of more than 23 million mailed to registered voters. S2 reported that officials have already processed 331,000 ballots in Los Angeles County alone.
Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla of California defended state election systems on Friday, stating that federal prosecutors have provided no evidence of widespread voter fraud and have acknowledged flaws in their data.
Broader voting roll challenges
The action follows a sweep earlier in the week where federal authorities brought criminal charges against 28 people from the 20,000-person list. Prosecutors charged them with unlawfully registering to vote, and some faced counts of voting illegally or making false statements on naturalization records.
Data indicates that voting by noncitizens remains extremely rare, difficult to prove, and has not altered election outcomes. Still, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, sent warning letters to all 50 states in July and brought 31 lawsuits to obtain unredacted voter lists. The division plans to cross-reference those lists with Department of Homeland Security files. The government has lost 26 of those cases and has not won any to date, while also filing a separate DOJ lawsuit to block certification of Alaska Senate results.
What happens next
California faces the appeals court deadline of noon Saturday to respond to the Justice Department’s emergency request. A district court hearing before Judge Carter remains set for Tuesday, though the Ninth Circuit could issue a ruling before that session takes place.
