Los Angeles election officials challenged the reliability of a Department of Justice list containing 20,000 names of suspected non-citizens in California, according to court filings released Tuesday. The county received the list last week with instructions to segregate ballots from individuals on it within 48 hours unless their citizenship could be verified. California election officials declined to comply, prompting the Justice Department to file suit Thursday.
When Los Angeles officials examined a sample of 200 names from the list, they found that approximately 38.9 percent had birthplace information indicating U.S. birth, according to a declaration by an official in the Los Angeles clerk and recorder’s office. Only about 7,000 of the 20,000 names provided actually had addresses in Los Angeles County. Additionally, the analysis found that 43 percent of sampled individuals had cancelled voter registration records, 71 percent had never voted, and 86 people had been sent ballots this year.
The Department of Homeland Security compiled the list but has declined to disclose its methodology for matching voter rolls to non-citizen records. Experts have cautioned that the matching process could generate errors. The DHS faced similar scrutiny earlier in July when it identified as many as 16,000 potential non-citizens on Nevada’s voter rolls. Nevada officials subsequently investigated a list of 185 names provided by DHS and determined all 185 were actually citizens.
Acting Deputy Attorney General R Trent McCotter acknowledged during a Monday press conference that the list may contain citizens. A Justice Department spokesperson stated that U.S. birthplace listed on voter registration forms does not necessarily establish citizenship, arguing that California’s refusal to verify the citizenship of flagged ballots amounts to willful disregard of federal law.
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