The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued letters to county election officials across California, warning of potential federal scrutiny if they decline to help identify suspected noncitizens on voter rolls. The letters, dated Friday, gave election officials a 48-hour period to cooperate in verifying the citizenship status of individuals on federal government lists and to set aside their mail ballots for verification.
The DOJ stated its request is for each county election official to commit to providing necessary information to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for quick citizenship status verification. The department emphasized that such cooperation would help ensure a secure election in California.
California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the DOJ's actions. Newsom posted on X, sharing information from a New York Times story that detailed issues with the lists. According to the report Newsom cited, the Inyo County clerk’s office identified two suspected noncitizen voters on its list, neither of whom had been issued ballots. Additionally, the Mendocino County clerk’s office reportedly received a list of voters from another county.
This latest development is part of an ongoing dispute between the DOJ and California, which has spanned more than a year over issues related to election integrity. Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, speaking on Oct. 22 at a press conference focused on healthcare fraud, asserted that California faces significant fraud problems, including election fraud.
Orange County has been directly impacted by these federal efforts. In June 2025, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against the Orange County Registrar of Voters. The lawsuit alleged that the Registrar refused to provide the Justice Department with records pertaining to the removal of noncitizens from its voter registration list. It further claimed a failure to maintain an accurate voter list, in violation of the Help America Vote Act.
Three months after the lawsuit against Orange County, the DOJ also sued the state of California for its failure to produce statewide voter registration lists. However, U.S. District Judge David Carter dismissed the California voter-data lawsuit in January 2026.
Six months following the dismissal, the DHS informed the state of California that more than 190,000 suspected noncitizen voters were registered in the state. The California attorney general’s office has disputed claims of widespread voter fraud, stating that the individuals charged in alleged cases represent a minuscule fraction of California’s over 23 million registered voters. The attorney general’s office maintained that safeguards are in place to protect election integrity and that isolated cases of alleged voter fraud are prosecuted wherever they occur.
