WASHINGTON — The U.S. Justice Department has given California officials 48 hours to review a list of alleged noncitizen voters or face legal action, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters, in an escalation of the federal government’s election-integrity campaign weeks before the November 3 elections.
The letter, written by acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter and addressed to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, says the department gave Los Angeles County officials a password-protected thumb drive containing the names of people the federal government believes are likely noncitizens and were sent mail-in ballots, according to Reuters.
The letter demands that the state refuse to send ballots to people on the list until their citizenship is confirmed. Ballots from voters on the list that have already been returned should be segregated and not tabulated until citizenship has been determined, the letter says, and the federal government will seek emergency relief in court if state officials do not comply.
A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed the letter to Reuters and said the department would take all necessary legal action to protect election integrity. The White House and the California secretary of state’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters.
The dispute matters nationally because California could prove pivotal in deciding control of the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans are defending narrow majorities. California voters have approved a new congressional map that heavily favors Democrats, part of a nationwide redistricting contest that began in Republican-led states.
Noncitizen voting is rare, according to multiple studies cited by Reuters. Reuters reported in September that states may have added more than 30,000 noncitizens to voter rolls since 2000 through software glitches and clerical errors, but it was unclear how many cast a ballot, and experts said the numbers were too small relative to the country’s 170 million registered voters to affect elections.
The letter is the latest step in a broader campaign. In July, the Justice Department warned election officials in all 50 states that they could face prosecution if they knowingly allowed noncitizens to remain on voter rolls, and its Civil Rights Division has sued 30 states that refused to hand over nonpublic voter data, losing 26 of those cases without winning one, according to Reuters.
