Justice Department threatens lawsuit against California over alleged non-citizen voters

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is threatening legal action against California unless state and local officials review a list of potential noncitizens registered to vote.

Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter sent letters Tuesday to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan with a list of names of potential noncitizens identified by the federal government. The letters demand that they review the list by noon Thursday.

“Allowing non-citizens to vote nullifies citizen votes,” McCotter wrote in the letter obtained by NBC News.

McCotter wrote that the DOJ provided a password-protected thumb drive with a list of individuals who the federal government says are likely non-citizens who received an absentee ballot for the 2026 election. He requested that county election officials “separate – not cancel – the absentee ballots of these individuals” until their citizenship status is determined.

“This should not be controversial because the criminal code is clear: Only U.S. citizens can vote in federal elections,” a Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement. “It is a federal crime for non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections, and the DOJ is calling on California to ensure this does not happen.”

Reuters first reported on the letters.

Justin Levitt, an NBC News contributor and Justice Department official during the Obama administration, said the federal government had no authority to support his requests.

“They can send the letter,” he said. “California doesn’t need to do anything about this.”

Federal law prohibits the systemic maintenance of lists for 90 days following a federal election. At this point, less than three weeks before Election Day, the only changes to voter rolls may come from individualized information, such as notification from the Social Security Administration that a person has died.

A DOJ spokesperson said the department is asking California to sequester ballots, not change its voter rolls.

In a statement released Wednesday, Logan said his office did not access the USB drive provided by the DOJ “because it would conflict with established data privacy and information security protocols.” He added: “We do not consider the device to be a secure medium. »

“Maintaining accurate voter registration records is a fundamental responsibility of our office,” Logan said in the release. “Federal and state laws are clear on how voter eligibility is established – and any action to remove a voter from eligibility must be based on verifiable information, not unconfirmed data match claims.”

Weber did not respond to requests for comment.

All registered voters in California receive mail-in ballots, which began distribution on October 5.

The legal threats came as part of a broader campaign by the Trump administration to focus on what voting experts say is a relatively rare phenomenon of non-citizen voting. Trump has long claimed, without basis, that the vote was tainted by widespread fraud.

Election officials in several states — including Georgia, Connecticut, Nevada and Washington state — say they have received federal subpoenas in recent months regarding election records.

Some officials said they fear the actions are intended to spark possible legal challenges after the midterm elections.

“What we’ve seen is a groundwork laid for post-election challenges,” said Stuart Holmes, Washington state’s director of elections. “Whether it’s the seizure of voting materials, the ballots themselves, the tabulation materials…we are preparing for all eventualities in this matter.”

Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, said officials in his state were also preparing for possible challenges to the November results. He added that he viewed the administration’s actions as “an effort to dissuade people from participating in elections.”

“You have a president who is trying to choose the voting base rather than the voters choosing the elected officials, and that is not how our democracy works,” he said in an interview. “It’s the people who control our elections, and when you try to remove that control, you do it through intimidation, you do it through threats, and you do it by trying to dissuade people from participating.”

Levitt agreed with election officials’ findings.

“Are they laying the groundwork to say the vote was fraudulent? Of course they are, 100 percent,” he said, referring to the Trump administration. “Is the boy who cried wolf going to cry wolf? Yes, that’s what the boy who cried wolf is doing.”

Since Trump took office, his administration has filed more than 100 complaints involving allegations of non-citizen voting. More than 154 million people voted in the 2024 elections, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Under the second Trump administration, the DOJ searched for voter registration data in every state across the country. He filed lawsuits against 30 states and Washington, D.C., for refusal.