Justice Department threatens California with legal action over claim of noncitizens on voter rolls

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Justice Department has threatened California with possible legal action over what it says are noncitizens believed to have received mail ballots for next month’s midterm elections.

A letter Tuesday to Secretary of State Shirley Weber from Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general, says that the Justice Department has provided officials in Los Angeles County with a password-protected thumb drive with a list of names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in November’s election.

The letter obtained by The Associated Press gives the state 48 hours to determine whether any citizens are included on the list. For individuals whose citizenship cannot be independently verified, the state is to instruct local election officials to segregate their mail-in ballots until their status can be determined, and to not provide a ballot to anyone who has not yet received it. It warns that legal action may follow if the state does not meet the 48-hour deadline to review the list.

“If you cannot implement this process by then, given the ongoing federal election, the United States will have no choice but to seek emergency relief,” the letter states.

A separate, similar letter was sent to the registrar’s office in Los Angeles County.

Neither the California Secretary of State nor the Los Angeles County Registrar immediately responded to requests seeking comment.

The Trump administration has made the hunt for noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though the problem is exceptionally rare. The Justice Department has charged about 90 people for various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens. There were some 227 million registered voters in the U.S. during the 2024 presidential election.

In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, alleging that as many as 250,000 noncitizens were registered in those states. Election officials there were skeptical of the claim, including Weber, the California secretary of state.

“I have serious doubts about the reliability of your data and accuracy of your claims, since my office has not shared our statewide voter registration list with DHS or any other federal agency or official,” Weber said in response.

Safiyah Riddle And Eric Tucker, The Associated Press