Justice Dept. sues California, claims noncitizens were sent ballots
The Justice Department sued California, alleging that the federal government has identified more than 20,000 noncitizens who are unlawfully registered to vote.
Key points
- Justice Department sues California over more than 20,000 noncitizens allegedly registered to vote.
- Los Angeles County refuses to review a thumb drive of names, citing data privacy protocols.
- DOJ has lost 26 of 31 lawsuits seeking unredacted voter rolls, with no legal victory.
The Justice Department sued California on Thursday, alleging that the federal government has identified more than 20,000 noncitizens who are unlawfully registered to vote. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
The suit followed letters this week from Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter to counties including Los Angeles, ordering them to review a list of suspected noncitizens who he alleged received mail-in ballots for the upcoming midterm elections.
What officials said
Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement, "State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America." He added that if California is found responsible, it will have undermined confidence in the electoral system and violated laws protecting representative government.
Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said the county would not review the materials on the thumb drive because doing so would conflict with "established data privacy and information security protocols." He said the device was not a "secure medium." Secretary of State Shirley Weber said the Justice Department had not provided the list of names and criticized the Trump administration for what she called "unsubstantiated claims" that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls.
State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America
— Attorney General Todd Blanche
Lawsuit details and litigation
The lawsuit accused California of failing to work with the federal government to correct alleged problems with its voter rolls. It said the Federal Government asked California to work collaboratively to identify noncitizens registered to vote, but California made no serious effort to do so. The suit seeks to enjoin California from tabulating vote-by-mail ballots from likely noncitizens in the upcoming federal election until citizenship status can be determined.
The California Secretary of State's office told CBS News it had no further information due to pending litigation. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed 31 lawsuits to force states to hand over unredacted voter rolls. So far, it has lost 26 of those cases and has not achieved one legal victory. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon sent letters to all 50 states in July threatening criminal action if they knowingly allowed noncitizens to remain on voter rolls.
