The Trump administration is seeking an emergency court order to prevent California from counting ballots associated with more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens until their citizenship can be verified, setting up a legal confrontation weeks before the midterm elections.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Justice Department filed a federal lawsuit against California on Thursday, October 15, seeking to prevent election officials from counting mail-in ballots associated with more than 20,000 registered voters whom federal investigators have identified as possible noncitizens.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, asks a judge to require election officials to separate the disputed ballots and verify the voters’ citizenship before including their votes in the November 3 midterm election results.
The lawsuit follows an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security that compared California voter registration records with federal immigration databases. According to prosecutors, the review identified thousands of individuals whose citizenship status raised questions about their eligibility to participate in federal elections.
Federal authorities subsequently provided California officials with a list containing more than 20,000 names and demanded that they review the information within 48 hours.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli accused California of refusing to cooperate with the investigation.
“California refused,” Essayli wrote on X.
The Justice Department argues that California’s universal vote-by-mail system creates an immediate concern because the state automatically sends ballots to registered voters, including those whose eligibility federal investigators are questioning.
Under federal law, noncitizens generally cannot vote in federal elections. However, the government’s designation of someone as a likely noncitizen does not establish that the person is ineligible, and the lawsuit does not demonstrate that 20,000 noncitizens have cast ballots.
Prosecutors want the court to prohibit California from counting any returned ballots linked to the disputed registrations until citizenship has been independently established.
“The United States thus seeks commonplace election relief when a ballot is called into question,” the complaint states.
The administration maintains that its request would protect lawful voters by preventing potentially ineligible ballots from being included in election results.
California officials strongly dispute the allegations and the federal government’s authority to impose the proposed restrictions.
Gov. Gavin Newsom characterized the lawsuit as a political attempt to interfere with the election.
“This is a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day,” Newsom said in a statement.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber also challenged the reliability of the federal government’s findings, saying investigators had not provided sufficient evidence or explained the methodology used to identify the suspected noncitizens.
According to The Associated Press, Weber raised concerns that eligible voters could lose access to their ballots because of inaccurate or outdated government records.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan separately questioned the security of the federal government’s approach after officials received a thumb drive containing the disputed voter information, accompanied by a handwritten password.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta noted that federal officials had previously claimed approximately 190,000 possible noncitizens appeared on California’s voter rolls before reducing their allegation to roughly 20,000.
“What happened to those 170,000? They just got those wrong,” Bonta said Thursday.
The legal dispute also raises questions about federal restrictions on systematic voter-roll changes within 90 days of an election.
California officials argue that the Justice Department’s demands could conflict with those protections, while the administration maintains that preventing noncitizen voting is a separate obligation under federal law.
The lawsuit is part of a broader Justice Department effort to examine voter registration records and strengthen citizenship verification before the midterms.
Federal investigators have pursued similar voter-data requests in other states, although several courts have rejected the government’s demands.
The California complaint names the state, Weber and Logan as defendants and seeks statewide relief.
With voting already underway, the timing of the case could become a central issue as the court considers whether the federal government has provided sufficient evidence to justify restricting the counting of disputed ballots.
The immediate question is whether a judge will require California to isolate ballots associated with the federal government’s list while citizenship reviews proceed.
Until those reviews are completed, the number of individuals on the list who are actually noncitizens remains unverified, leaving federal prosecutors and California election officials sharply divided over both the evidence and the appropriate safeguards for the November election.
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