Trump administration threatens California officials if noncitizens vote in midterms
Justice department warns election officials of prosecution if they ‘knowingly tabulate ballots’ cast by noncitizens The Trump administration is escalating its fight with California ahead of next month’s midterm elections, warning that local officials who process and tabulate ballots submitted by suspected noncitizen voters are putting themselves at risk of criminal investigation and potential prosecution. The letter…
Key points
- The Justice Department warned California officials they could face criminal investigation for tabulating ballots from suspected noncitizens.
- The letter followed a DOJ lawsuit seeking to stop California from counting certain mail-in ballots until immigration status is confirmed.
- Noncitizen voting is extremely rare; DOJ has charged about 50 people out of over 227 million registered voters in 2024.
The Trump administration is escalating its fight with California ahead of next month's midterm elections. Senior Justice Department officials sent a letter on Friday warning that local officials who process and tabulate ballots from suspected noncitizen voters could face criminal investigation and prosecution.
The letter, obtained first by the Associated Press, was addressed to the Los Angeles county counsel's office and copied to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan. It came a day after the administration sued California to block it from counting mail-in ballots from people federal agencies identified as likely noncitizens until their status is confirmed.
What the letter said
The letter, signed by acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, warned that knowingly tabulating ballots cast by people identified by federal agencies as noncitizens could make officials aiders and abettors to a federal crime. It said the legal consequences for facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are significant.
Noncitizen voting is extremely rare. The Justice Department has charged about 50 people alleged to have voted as noncitizens out of more than 227 million registered voters in the 2024 presidential election.
They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!
— Donald Trump
Reactions and legal views
Trump posted on Truth Social late Friday, sharing a link to a news story about the letter and adding that they will all go to jail for a long period of time. The DOJ lawsuit was filed after California officials did not meet a 48-hour deadline to review a password-protected thumb drive containing 20,000 names. The federal government says those are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots for the 3 November election, but the secretary of state said no evidence supports that claim.
UCLA law professor Rick Hasen called the letter an escalation that threatens election officials with potential criminal prosecution. Justin Levitt, a former deputy assistant attorney general, dismissed the idea that such a prosecution would hold up, saying courts have not been buying DOJ's arguments and election officials are equipped to stand up to aggressive bullying. Earlier Friday, Senators Alex Padilla, Sheldon Whitehouse and Dick Durbin demanded that the Justice Department commit to not seizing ballots before the midterms are certified.
