What they say: “State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a press release.
- “If found liable in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated the laws that protect our nation’s system of representative government,” Blanche said.
Zoom: The Justice Department alleges that California knowingly allows noncitizens to vote in federal elections, according to the lawsuit.
- The lawsuit says U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and ICE’s investigative arm compiled the list of potentially ineligible voters using agency data and records from the Social Security Administration and the State Department.
- But administration-created lists of potential noncitizens on voter rolls have proven less than accurate before in Nevada, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Zoom out: California’s top elections official and Los Angeles County’s elections chief received letters two days ago threatening “emergency action.”
- The Justice Department gave Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan a password-protected USB drive listing more than 20,000 voters and asked him to verify their citizenship within 48 hours, according to the letter and department statements.
- “Maintaining accurate voter registration records is a fundamental responsibility of our office. Our response will be based on compliance with federal and state voter registration laws and procedures,” Logan said in a statement on social media after the initial letter.
Point of friction: Federal law restricts the routine maintenance of voter rolls within 90 days of a federal election – in part to prevent eligible voters from being removed shortly before the vote.
- This litigation also follows legal attempts by the federal government to obtain California’s voter rolls, beyond the public rolls, which failed in court.
The other side: “This is a sad and desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-D) said in a statement.
- “The courts have made it clear that the federal government has no role in how a state conducts its election process, and now, in the midst of Californians voting, they have asked local officials — who are very good defenders of democracy — to violate federal law.”
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