Immigration

Justice Department presses California counties to flag suspected noncitizen voters

The U.S. Justice Department has warned election officials in all 58 California counties that they could face federal scrutiny if they do not help identify suspected noncitizens on voter rolls — less than two weeks before the November 3 midterm elections.

According to letters sent Friday and first reported by The New York Times, counties were given 48 hours to help determine the citizenship status of people on federal government lists. The letters included lists of people the department believes are illegally registered to vote, described as a subset of about 20,000 people statewide it identified last week as possible noncitizens who may have received ballots.

For voters whose citizenship status cannot be confirmed, the letters ask counties to instruct election officials to segregate — not cancel — those individuals' vote-by-mail ballots until their status can be determined. The department warned counties they could face "significant federal scrutiny" if they fail to comply.

The Justice Department and the California attorney general's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The move follows an October 16 warning to Los Angeles County and state officials that they could be liable as abettors of a federal crime if they count mail ballots returned by the more than 20,000 people the administration says are probably noncitizens. The department has also ramped up prosecutions of people accused of voting while not holding U.S. citizenship, and the White House has pushed federal agencies to speed review of at least 47 state voter rolls obtained by the Department of Homeland Security, according to an internal email seen by Reuters.

Sources: Reuters (Oct 24, 2026); The New York Times (Oct 23, 2026, as reported by Reuters).

Sponsored

MR CAT ADVERTISINGDOES YOUR BUSINESS NEED MORE CUSTOMERS?

VISIT SITE →