DOJ subpoenas California officials in voter rolls investigation escalation

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued subpoenas to California officials in its latest move in scrutinizing voters in the state who aren’t U.S. citizens.

Three subpoenas were sent to employees of the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, ordering them to appear in court on Nov. 4, The Associated Press reported .

Earlier this month, the DOJ sued California after providing state and local election officials with a USB drive containing voter roll citizenship data, giving the state 48 hours to compare 20,000 names the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flagged as noncitizens with its own data. The department sent a letter to the officials, which included a handwritten password to access the files on the thumb drive.

The subpoenas are requesting documents and communications related to letters sent to state election officials in July and October on allegations of noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls, according to the AP. They are also seeking information about any efforts to prevent noncitizen votes from being counted.

A DOJ spokesperson told The Hill the department “does not comment on leaks about alleged grand jury subpoenas.”

“The district court judge explained that voting unlawfully results in criminal exposure. Consistent with this, California also wrote in its filing that the remedy for unlawful voting is through criminal prosecution. Thus, while DOJ maintains that a civil remedy is still available, all agree that noncitizen voting is properly addressed through criminal law,” the spokesperson added.

President Trump, in a Truth Social post earlier this month, warned California officials that they could face criminal charges if they include the mail-in ballots from noncitizen voters.

In July, Trump alleged California, along with three other states, collectively had 250,000 noncitizens on their voter rolls. A federal “preliminary review” of these lists, which the DHS included in a letter sent to the states at the time, found less than half that number — 118,000 — matched the government had flagged.

Along with California, Washington state has also come under scrutiny in recent days, with federal officials calling on the state’s election officials to set aside ballots from more than 400 people who have allegedly registered to vote without U.S. citizenship.

Federal law dictates that only U.S. citizens are permitted to vote in federal elections, according to a fact sheet from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.