Federal prosecutors issued letters on Friday to county registrars across California, demanding that local election officials set aside and verify ballots that the Justice Department asserts may belong to noncitizens. The directive marks a sharp escalation in an ongoing legal battle between California authorities and federal prosecutors targeting the state over noncitizen voting ahead of the midterm elections. Data indicates that illegal voting by individuals who are not U.S. citizens is extremely rare, difficult to substantiate, and has not altered election outcomes.
At least 18 counties across California received the letters on Friday, according to the Los Angeles County registrar’s office. Officials were given a 48-hour deadline to supply identifying information corresponding to ballots that the federal government believes were sent to individuals illegally registered to vote. The letters further request that county offices sequester any ballots where citizenship status cannot be definitively verified.
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned local administrators of potential legal consequences, stating that any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen opens themselves up to legal jeopardy. The Justice Department requested that counties provide detailed voter data for suspected individuals, including Social Security numbers, identification information, and copies of voter registration files.
In San Bernardino County, voting officials received a letter indicating that the federal government’s list of suspected noncitizen voters includes 1,133 people within the inland Southern California region. However, the California attorney general’s office noted in court filings that the lists contained notable errors. For instance, Mendocino County officials received a roster of individuals who were not residents of that county.
Department of Justice spokeswoman Kiersten Pels emphasized in a statement that the agency is explicitly not requesting a voter purge, cancellation of registrations, or any programmatic action. Pels stated that federal officials are instead asking for local collaboration to ensure election security.
California Secretary of State officials and the Los Angeles County registrar have strongly opposed the federal demands. In legal filings, state lawyers argued that the request threatens to delay vote certification, undermine the legitimacy of the November midtests, rely on unreliable federal data, and risk the disenfranchisement of eligible citizens. Voting is already underway across California, with mail-in ballots distributed to the state’s more than 23 million registered voters earlier in the month. The state reported that over 330,000 mail-in ballots have already been processed and counted.
John Tuteur, the registrar of voters for Napa County, described the federal push as an effort to cast doubt on election integrity. Tuteur recounted that two uniformed Department of Homeland Security officers delivered a letter to his office late Friday afternoon listing 42 individuals accused of being noncitizens registered to vote. Napa County has roughly 86,000 registered voters out of a total population exceeding 130,000, with approximately 11,000 mail-in ballots already cast by Friday. Tuteur stated that local staff are proceeding with regular election operations while acknowledging that employees and their families have experienced anxiety regarding potential legal repercussions.
The Friday directives followed a statewide enforcement sweep earlier in the week where federal authorities charged 28 individuals from a broader federal list of 20,000 with illegally registering to vote. Some defendants also face charges of illegal voting and making false statements on naturalization paperwork, offenses that carry potential multi-year prison sentences. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division has filed 31 lawsuits seeking unredacted voter rolls to ensure list maintenance, acknowledging plans to share the data with the Department of Homeland Security for noncitizen screening. Civil Rights Division Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon sent letters to all 50 states in July warning of potential criminal action against jurisdictions knowingly retaining noncitizens on voter rolls, though the Justice Department has thus far lost 26 related court cases without securing a victory.
Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California condemned the federal actions in a statement, asserting that the administration lacks evidence of widespread voter fraud and has acknowledged that its data sources are inaccurate and unreliable. State officials maintain that local election boards will continue processing ballots under established state procedures regardless of federal pressure.
