DOJ asks California registrars to quarantine ballots within 48 hours

In the latest escalation of the Justice Department’s efforts to stop California from counting certain ballots, prosecutors sent individual letters Friday to numerous county clerks demanding that they sequester ballots sent to voters they suspect are not U.S. citizens.

Officials in four California counties confirmed to the Chronicle that they had received a letter.

In two letters obtained by the Chronicle, Northern California’s top Justice Department prosecutor gave clerks in Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties 48 hours Friday to review rolls totaling more than 1,300 voters and confirm their citizenship.

In an email Friday to members of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan said the letters were sent to “some or all” of the counties.

The demand letter sent to Contra Costa Clerk-Recorder Kristin B. Connelly and Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Matt Morales by U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian threatens legal action if election officials do not immediately sequester ballots returned by voters who the federal government says may not be U.S. citizens.

Andrea L. Russi, deputy district attorney for Contra Costa County, said they have not yet determined how they will respond to the request.

“We are doing nothing wrong and are conducting this election in accordance with state and federal election laws, as well as the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California,” Connelley told the Chronicle. “Voters must vote and not be intimidated. »

Merced County Registrar Melvin Levey said his office also received a letter Friday from a U.S. attorney, Eric Grant, that he is currently reviewing with the county board. The letter required review of 177 names. In a text message, Levey said his team was “moving forward” and would hold “a great election conducted in a fair and legal manner.” Fresno County Registrar of Voters James A. Kus said his office also received a letter Friday.

“We are reviewing the information in coordination with the Secretary of State and the California Attorney General,” Kus said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for Secretary of State Shirley Weber told the Chronicle Friday that the office had “no information to share.”

The demands come amid a bitter feud over federal election interference between California and the Trump administration that has intensified throughout the week. Last week, the DOJ sued California and asked a court to stop the state from counting about 20,000 ballots that it says it identified as potentially fraudulent. A hearing on that request is scheduled for next week. Election law experts have called the lawsuit confusing and unlikely to succeed. In the wake of the lawsuit, the Justice Department also threatened to criminally prosecute election officials who knowingly counted fraudulent voters’ ballots.

On Monday, the DOJ announced that it had charged 28 people with election fraud. Of the 28 people charged, 23 people were accused of voting illegally, allegedly casting 34 illegal ballots in elections dating back to 2020, including one provisional ballot.

In a separate case Wednesday, an Oakland-based federal judge blocked the Department of Homeland Security from conducting operations aimed at uncovering voter fraud in a number of blue states across the country. The order highlights that the government’s methodology for identifying potentially fraudulent voters is known to include errors and falsely trap U.S. citizens.

“Today’s letter from the Department of Justice comes just hours after the Trump administration filed preemptive action to block the certification of Alaska’s election if the Republican Senate candidate lost the race,” Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Antioch, whose district includes parts of Contra Costa County, said in a statement. “I am deeply concerned about the escalating militarization of the Justice Department to interfere with the November 3 election. »

Logan, in his email to local election officials, said the DOJ’s letters to clerks include “intimidation posturing.”

He also said it “distorts the facts” about the Trump administration’s own actions, “attempts to tarnish the Secretary of State and Los Angeles County” and “threatens local election officials twelve days before the election.”

Logan, who is a named defendant in the DOJ’s lawsuit against the state, noted that the letter sent to local officials indicates that the secretary of state’s office received a list of 20,000 suspected non-citizen voters. But Logan said only his office — not the secretary of state — received the list. The Contra Costa letter was accompanied by a list of 407 names that the U.S. Attorney said represented the county’s share of that 20,000 figure. The Santa Clara letter included a list of 902 names.

Raheem Hosseini contributed to this report.