DOJ sues California after identifying more than 20,000 ‘likely noncitizens’ registered to vote

The lawsuit seeks a court order requiring California to set aside ballots returned by the flagged individuals until their citizenship can be verified. California automatically mails ballots to registered voters, meaning those identified by investigators would have been sent ballots or would receive them under the state’s election procedures, according to the complaint.

“State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated laws that protect our nation’s representative system of government.”

Filed in the Central District of California, the complaint names the state, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan as defendants. The civil action alleges their handling of the disputed registrations conflicts with the federal prohibition against noncitizen voting.

According to the complaint, federal officials warned California months before ballots were mailed that investigators had identified potentially ineligible registrants. On October 13, they provided officials with a list of more than 20,000 names and requested a review by noon on October 15.

Prosecutors allege California failed to conduct the requested review and that Los Angeles County rejected an encrypted thumb drive containing the information. Many of the flagged registrations had Los Angeles County addresses, according to the filing.

“California election officials were given an opportunity to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls and to sequester ballots returned from suspected ineligible voters. They refused,” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli said. “We are taking California to federal court to demand that the votes of American citizens not be diluted by noncitizens.”

The complaint describes a review involving US Citizenship and Immigration Services and Homeland Security Investigations. Investigators compared voter information with immigration records, used additional identifying information to assess matches, and checked for evidence of naturalization or citizenship acquired through parents. The filing also describes supervisory review and further investigation by HSI.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin characterized the findings as preliminary, saying the individuals identified were “likely noncitizens” who appeared to be registered and that the review remained ongoing. The filing does not establish that all those flagged are noncitizens or that they have cast ballots.

Weber disputed the federal government’s demands in an official response, saying her office had not received the list and questioning the evidence and methodology supporting the allegations. She maintained that California requires citizenship to register and removes ineligible registrants from its rolls.

The California lawsuit follows similar federal scrutiny of election officials in other states. The DOJ warned Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs in July that officials could face criminal liability if they knowingly retained noncitizens on voter rolls or facilitated illegal ballots. Oregon received a similar letter. Hobbs’ office pushed back, accusing the department of threatening election administrators and reviving disproven claims of rigged elections.

In September, HSI launched a coordinated investigation across nine states, including Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York and Connecticut, along with California. Investigators were directed to pursue suspected illegal registration and voting, including cases involving immigrants accused of voting before becoming American citizens.

Federal prosecutors subsequently charged four noncitizens in Pennsylvania, including two illegal aliens, with election-related crimes. Prosecutors alleged illegal voting in the 2022 and 2024 elections and, in one case, repeated fraudulent voter-registration applications. TPM also reported that Philippine citizen and lawful permanent resident Evelyn Miller pleaded guilty in September to illegally voting in the 2024 general election.

On October 12, the DOJ announced another round of charges against 16 people across the country. Those cases included allegations of noncitizen voting, false citizenship claims, double voting and an attempt to cast a deceased person’s absentee ballot.

In California, the Justice Department is requesting preliminary and permanent injunctions preventing the disputed mail-in ballots from being counted in federal elections until citizenship is verified.