The US Department of Justice filed suit against California in federal court in the central district, requesting a court order to block the state from counting ballots cast by individuals the department identified as likely noncitizens in the upcoming midterm elections.
The litigation followed a Tuesday demand by the Justice Department to Los Angeles County election officials. The department provided a USB drive containing a handwritten password with names purporting to belong to noncitizens registered to vote. Officials were given a 48-hour deadline to verify citizenship for individuals on the list and set aside their ballots if status could not be confirmed. The department did not disclose its methodology for compiling the names, though the lawsuit referenced more than 20,000 individuals flagged as likely noncitizens. Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan declined to review the list, citing security concerns about the USB drive’s reliability.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, stated that the Justice Department had not provided the list to her office. Weber characterized the effort as an unlawful attempt to access protected voter data and said it served to undermine public confidence in elections.
The methodology underlying the government’s identification of noncitizens has faced scrutiny. Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security estimated as many as 278,000 noncitizens were on voting rolls across four states, including more than 190,000 in California. When Nevada election officials investigated 185 names the DHS flagged with strong confidence, they determined all were citizens. The DHS declined to share its methodology with Nevada officials.
Election law scholar Richard Hasen from UCLA characterized the Justice Department’s California action as a “publicity stunt” and noted that federal law prohibits systematic voter roll purges during the 90-day period before elections, citing concerns about removing eligible voters through flawed processes.
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
Article summary produced by Claude AI