Full Breakdown
DOJ Sues California Over Alleged Non-Citizen Mail Ballots
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event
On October 15, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking an injunction that would prevent the state from tabulating mail-in ballots for the November 3 midterm election when those ballots are linked to more than 20,000 voters the federal government believes are “likely non-citizens.” The suit follows letters dated October 13, 2026 from Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan, demanding a review of a password-protected thumb drive and a 48-hour deadline to act.
Background & Context
The DOJ’s action is part of a broader effort to pressure states over alleged non-citizen voting. In July 2022, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that California might have as many as 190,000 non-citizens on its rolls, a figure the state rejected. The DOJ’s current list is a reduced subset of that claim. Federal law (18 U.S.C. § 611) criminalizes voting by non-citizens in federal elections, while the National Voter Registration Act bars systematic voter-list maintenance within 90 days of an election. The DOJ has previously filed 31 lawsuits nationwide seeking voter-roll data; 26 have been lost.
Official Statements & Responses
- Attorney General Todd Blanche said “State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America.”
- Dean Logan warned that accessing the thumb drive would conflict with data-privacy protocols and that any removal must be based on verifiable information.
- Governor Gavin Newsom called the lawsuit “a sad, desperate attempt” by the Trump administration to suppress California voters and noted that courts have made clear the federal government has no role in state election administration.
Criticism & Opposition
Election-law experts and voting-rights groups argue that the DOJ’s demand violates the 90-day prohibition on systematic roll maintenance and risks disenfranchising eligible voters.
Data & Statistics
- DOJ alleges the thumb drive contains more than 20,000 names of likely non-citizens who received mail ballots.
- DHS previously claimed 190,000 non-citizens were on California’s rolls; the DOJ’s figure is a fraction of that number.
- A Reuters analysis found that since 2000, software glitches and clerical errors may have added over 30,000 self-declared non-citizens to voter rolls nationwide—a small share of the roughly 170 million registered voters in the United States.
- The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has lost 26 of its 31 voter-roll lawsuits.
Conflicting Reports & Gaps
- The DOJ has not disclosed the methodology used to generate the 20,000-name list, nor provided the actual list to the Secretary of State.
- DHS’s earlier estimate of 190,000 non-citizens contrasts sharply with the DOJ’s current 20,000 figure, and the state has questioned how the reduction occurred.
- Federal letters do not cite a specific statute authorizing the DOJ to dictate how California must handle individual ballots, raising legal uncertainty about the agency’s authority.
What’s Next
The lawsuit now awaits a judicial ruling on whether the federal government can compel a state to withhold or segregate mail ballots based on an unverified list. Both the DOJ and California have indicated they will continue to pursue their respective legal strategies as the November 3 election approaches.