Justice Department sues California in another alarming push to police mail-in voters
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The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit demanding that California set aside mail ballots from voters it claims may be non-citizens until their citizenship is verified, drawing sharp pushback from state officials who say the allegations are unproven and dangerous. The fight comes just weeks before the November 3 elections that will decide control of Congress.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil complaint in federal court in Los Angeles, pressing California to segregate mail-in ballots from voters it labels as likely non-citizens and verify their citizenship before those ballots are counted in the upcoming federal election. The complaint asks the court to block the state from tabulating those ballots until each voter’s status can be determined.
Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter warned California Secretary of State Shirley Weber that the state had 48 hours to create a process for separating the ballots, and said that if California did not comply, the federal government could seek emergency relief.
"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," McCotter wrote.
California officials forcefully rejected the demand, saying the DOJ has produced no evidence to support its claims. Weber’s office said the department had already made baseless allegations that the state’s voter rolls included 190,000 non-citizens and still had not shared the data behind those accusations.
"The DOJ's relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states' protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections," Weber said.
Governor Gavin Newsom called the lawsuit "dangerous nonsense" and accused the president of trying to force California to break federal law.
"More dangerous nonsense from a President losing his grip on reality," Newsom posted on X.
Weber said California law already requires voters to be U.S. citizens and that the state removes ineligible registrants from its rolls. She said California will continue following applicable federal and state law rather than giving in to "unsubstantiated claims and outrageous demands."
The lawsuit comes less than a month before the November 3 midterm elections, which will decide control of both chambers of Congress.