Justice Department sues California over noncitizens getting ballots

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against California, accusing the state of allowing over 20,000 noncitizens to be registered to vote in the upcoming midterm elections. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent letters to counties, including Los Angeles, demanding that they review a list of suspected noncitizens allegedly found on mail-in ballots.

Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that state-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable and violating laws that protect the nation's representative government. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, Dean Logan, refused to review the materials on the thumb drive provided by McCotter, citing conflicts with data privacy and information security protocols.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber dismissed the Justice Department's claims, saying the agency had not presented evidence of 190,000 noncitizens on California's voter rolls. The lawsuit argues that California failed to collaborate with the federal government to address the alleged issues with voter rolls. The Federal Government requested California's assistance in identifying any noncitizens registered to vote.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction to halt the tabulation of mail-in ballots from noncitizens until their citizenship status is determined. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed 31 lawsuits seeking unredacted copies of voter rolls from various states, with the intent of sharing data with the Department of Homeland Security to screen for noncitizens. The Justice Department has lost 26 of these cases and has not achieved a legal victory so far.