The Trump administration has intensified its legal battle with California ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, seeking to block the state from counting mail-in ballots submitted by voters it suspects are noncitizens. On Thursday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit targeting California and a Los Angeles County election official, aiming to temporarily halt the tallying of approximately 20,000 mail ballots from individuals identified as “likely noncitizens” until their immigration status can be verified.
This move represents a new approach by the administration, which has previously pursued challenges to state voter rolls but largely faced legal setbacks. The lawsuit relies on data provided by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that reportedly flags potential noncitizen registrants using a multi-step process involving third-party software and internal government data checks. DHS officials use the software to generate confidence-based matches between voter registration information and immigration records, followed by manual reviews by Homeland Security Investigations.
The Justice Department warned California election officials in a letter sent Friday that processing ballots cast by suspected noncitizens could expose them to criminal liability, stating that both noncitizen voting and knowingly facilitating such voting constitute federal crimes. The letter, signed by Trent McCotter, acting deputy attorney general, emphasized the serious legal repercussions for officials who knowingly tabulate these ballots.
California officials rejected the lawsuit and the administration’s demands. Governor Gavin Newsom called the suit a politically motivated attempt to suppress votes, adding that courts have repeatedly affirmed that the federal government has limited authority over state-run elections. State Attorney General Rob Bonta characterized the administration’s claims as part of an ongoing, unfounded effort to promote conspiracy theories about widespread voter fraud.
California’s Secretary of State, Shirley N. Weber, criticized the data provided by the federal government as lacking sufficient detail and questioned the methodology used to identify noncitizens. Election officials in Los Angeles County declined to access the data provided via a thumb drive, citing concerns over data privacy and security. Dean Logan, Los Angeles County’s registrar, described the device as an insecure medium for handling sensitive information.
Critics of the administration’s approach have pointed to previous instances where similar claims of noncitizen voting have unraveled under scrutiny. For example, Nevada election officials recently reviewed a DHS-supplied list of 185 suspected noncitizen voters and found all were lawful citizens. David Becker, from a nonpartisan election research group, expressed skepticism about the timing and substance of the DOJ’s lawsuit, noting that millions of ballots have already been cast without reported problems.
Despite President Trump’s repeated public assertions that hundreds of thousands have voted illegally, investigations and election officials have consistently found only isolated cases of illegal voting, insufficient to affect election outcomes. The ongoing dispute highlights the tension between federal authorities seeking greater oversight of election integrity and state officials defending their traditional control over voter registration and ballot counting. The legal status of the lawsuit and the treatment of the flagged ballots remain unresolved as Election Day approaches.