THE BARE STORY
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit against California on Thursday seeking to stop the counting of mail ballots linked to people federal officials identify as likely noncitizens until their citizenship can be verified.
The case followed letters from acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter to California election officials, including the secretary of state and Los Angeles County clerk. The letters gave officials two days to review a list of names supplied on a password-protected thumb drive and to set aside any returned ballots connected to those names.
The federal government alleged that California had not acted on its concerns about suspected noncitizens who were sent mail ballots for the upcoming federal election. The Justice Department said it was not seeking to remove people from voter rolls or cancel votes, but asked a judge to require ballots tied to the listed individuals to be segregated pending verification.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said state law limits voter registration to U.S. citizens and that election officials regularly remove ineligible registrants. Los Angeles County Clerk Dean Logan declined to access the thumb drive, citing data privacy and information-security protocols and a lack of specific information about the records.
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