DOJ demands California counties identify noncitizen voters: Reports

The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Friday sent letters to election officials in every California county asking that they identify potential noncitizens on their voter rolls, according to several reports .

The letter warned local officials would “risk significant federal scrutiny” if they failed to comply with this request, The New York Times reported, citing a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

The DOJ’s letters included a list of people federal officials claimed the agency has identified as possible noncitizens who may receive ballots through California’s practice of sending a ballot to every registered voter in the state.

The DOJ gave local officials 48 hours “to identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not.”

For those whose “citizenship status cannot be confirmed, we request that you immediately instruct the appropriate elections official to segregate — not cancel — those individuals vote-by-mail ballots until their citizenship status can be determined,” the letter said, according to the Times.

The top federal prosecutor in Southern California, Bill Essayli, said in a statement shared on social media that the request was “simple.”

“California does not verify citizenship status. We did the work for them,” he wrote. “We obtained the registered voter list and told them who we believe are noncitizens on their rolls.

“Knowingly processing noncitizen ballots is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. §§ 611 and 2,” he continued. “We will hold election officials accountable. No one is above the law.”

The demand comes 11 days before the midterm elections, and it follows the Trump administration’s repeated warnings that significant numbers of noncitizens are registered to vote in this election.

The Trump administration sued California last week after the DOJ threatened legal action if state and local election officials refused to cross-reference 20,000 names on its voter rolls with information provided by the Department of Homeland Security.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) accused President Trump of “trying to quite literally rig the election” in his state during a campaign event in New Hampshire on Sunday.

“He’s trying to get our voting rolls,” he said. “You can’t make this stuff up.”