The Justice Department (DOJ) on 10/23/2026 Ordered California Election Officials to Identify Suspected Non-Citizens on Voter Rolls and set aside their Mail-in-Ballots, Warning that Officials who Knowingly Count Ballots Cast by Non-Citizens could face Criminal Liability. The Action marks an Escalation in the Trump (R) Administration’s efforts to Scrutinize Voter Rolls ahead of the Midterm Elections, as it continues to Double down on Claims of Voter Fraud, fueled by Trump’s Baseless Allegations of Widespread Election Cheating.
Letters sent to California County Election Officials asked them to Work with the DOJ and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to “identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not, if persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as non-citizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli (R) said to San Bernardino County Officials in a Letter.
The Letters follow a Demand earlier this Nonth from Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, who gave Los Angeles County and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber 48 hours to Review a Old Federal List of Suspected Non-Citizens who had been sent Mail-In Ballots. McCotter Threatened to seek “emergency relief” if Officials did Not Comply The earlier Letter, sent 10/13/2026, included a Password Protected Tthumb Drive containing Names of People the Aadministration “believes are likely non-citizens” who had been sent Ballots for the 11/3/2026 Election. It asked Officials to Temporarily Set Aside Ballots from People whose Citizenship could Not be Confirmed, rather than Cancel their Registrations.
“Maintaining accurate voter registration records is a fundamental responsibility of our office,” Los Angeles County Clerk Dean C. Logan (D) said in a Statement, after receiving the 10/13/2026 Letter. “Federal and state laws are clear on how voter eligibility is established – and any action to remove a voter from eligibility must be based on verifiable information, not assertions of unconfirmed data matching.”
Logan sent an Email to the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials on 10/23/2026, saying the Latest DOJ Letter includes a “posture of intimidation and threats leveled against local election officials just twelve days before the election.”
Logan said that the DOJ “misrepresents” the County’s response to the earlier Letter as “resistance to a civil lawsuit that was not yet filed” and is now giving an “unenforceable 48-hour deadline” to provide Information that it has previously “obtained through subpoenas.” The DOJ last week Ssued California and Los Angeles County, seeking to Prevent Officials from Counting more than 20,000 Mail-in-Ballots Associated with People the government believes are likely noncitizens. A federal judge scheduled a hearing on the case for next week, but the Justice Department on 10/23/2026 Asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to Intervene before then.
“Every minute of processing that occurs without segregating the ballots of suspected ineligible voters causes untraceable disenfranchisement and dilution of the votes of United States citizens,” the Motion noted. Logan, in Friday’s email, said the DOJ provided in its Letter a List of the 20,000 Non-Citizens it believes are on the County’s Voter Rolls. But a Review of those Names, Hhe said, showed that many “were associated with addresses throughout California, not solely within Los Angeles County.”
In 8/2026, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin (R) said His Ddepartment had identified 250,000 People it believed were Non-Citizens and Registered toVvote in Four States: California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, by comparing Voter Registration Records with Federal Data. But the Administration’s Claims have faced Scrutiny, and some Initial Findings have Not held up under further Review. In Nevada, for example, DHS told Sstate Oofficials that its Finding of 15,900 Potentially Non-Citizen Registrants was Preliminary and Uunvetted, and that it had Confirmed only 185 through Manual Review.
Last month, Nevada Officials told DHS their Subsequent Review found that all 185 were U.S Citizens, a Conclusion the FederalAagency Disputes. In Rresponse to Friday’s Letters, California Sen. Alex Padilla (D), a Ranking Member of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee with Oversight over Federal Elections, called the Administration “afraid and desperate.”
“Trump’s DOJ has not provided any evidence for their claims of massive voter fraud. They’ve admitted that the data they point to is inaccurate and unreliable. No matter how many lawsuits they file or how many election officials they threaten, they do not have the authority to interfere,” Padilla said. “The Trump administration is afraid and desperate. Their attempts to take over our elections will fail. Election officials: We have your back. California: Your vote is your voice. Use it and let’s hold this administration accountable.”
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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