The US Justice Department on Tuesday gave California officials 48 hours to review a list of alleged noncitizen voters or face legal action, according to two letters reviewed by Reuters, part of an unprecedented effort to find evidence of voter fraud ahead of next month’s elections.
The letters mark an escalation of the Trump administration’s attempts to pressure states over alleged voting by non-US citizens and signal the Justice Department may be prepared to challenge ballots in the weeks leading up to the November 3 election, when Republicans will be defending their narrow majorities in Congress. Experts said the numbers were too small relative to the country’s 170 million registered voters to affect elections. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin informed California officials on July 16 that the federal government believed the state had noncitizens on its voting rolls, according to the letter.
Though states may have added more than 30,000 noncitizens to their voter rolls since 2000 due to software glitches and clerical errors, Reuters found in September, it was unclear how many had cast a ballot. Justice Department spokeswoman Kiersten Pels confirmed the existence of the letters in a statement to Reuters, adding: “The department will take all necessary legal action to protect election integrity and ensure compliance with federal law.
Trent McCotter and addressed to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan, say the Justice Department provided officials in Los Angeles County with a “password-protected thumb drive” with the names of people the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens” and were sent mail-in ballots from California. The federal government “will have no choice but to seek emergency relief,” according to the letters, if state and county officials do not follow its instructions. The letters, written by acting Deputy Attorney General R. The Justice Department under President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that voting by non-US citizens is widespread, despite multiple studies showing it is rare.
