Justice Department sues California over mail ballots, demands voter data
The Justice Department sued California, seeking an injunction to stop counting mail-in ballots and demanding voter data from states, as election officials said federal scrutiny had intensified during early voting. Days earlier, the department warned Los Angeles County and state officials that they could face criminal liability for counting ballots it deemed linked to non-citizens.
The lawsuit followed a prior filing that aimed to halt the counting of roughly 20,000 mail ballots and a separate action seeking a court order to set aside ballots from voters suspected of lacking citizenship. Earlier, the DOJ had ordered California to verify the citizenship of voters on a federal list within 48 hours and had sent letters demanding a review of a list of potential non-citizen voters and segregation of their mail ballots.
