Justice Department sues California over verification of mail-in voter citizenship
The U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking a court order to set aside mail ballots from voters it deems likely non-citizens until their citizenship can be confirmed, prompting strong objections from California officials.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil complaint in federal court in Los Angeles demanding that California separate mail-in ballots from voters it identifies as likely non-citizens and verify their citizenship before the ballots are counted in the upcoming federal election. The complaint seeks an order to prevent the state from tabulating those ballots until the voters' 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 provide a process for segregating the ballots, and indicated that failure to comply could lead to 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 rejected the request, citing a lack of evidence for the DOJ’s claims. Weber’s office said the department had previously made unsubstantiated allegations that the state’s voter rolls contained 190,000 non-citizens and had not provided the data supporting those claims.
"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 described the lawsuit as “dangerous nonsense” and accused the president of demanding that California violate federal law.
"More dangerous nonsense from a President losing his grip on reality," Newsom posted on X.
Weber emphasized that California’s election laws already require voters to be U.S. citizens and that the state removes ineligible registrants from its rolls. She said the state will continue to follow applicable federal and state law rather than “unsubstantiated claims and outrageous demands.”
The lawsuit arrives less than a month before the November 3 midterm elections, which will determine control of both chambers of Congress.