Story perspectives

DOJ sues California to segregate 20,000 ballots

By Drooid · Oct 21, 2026, 12:11 PM UTC · How we work

Center

Questionable Voter List

On October 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued California, seeking a court order to separate about 20,000 mail-in ballots of likely noncitizens.
California officials contend the DOJ’s list is unreliable and segregation of the ballots would be impractical.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Trent McCotter said segregation seeks citizenship verification, acknowledging possible list errors.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber warned the request would breach federal voting-rights protections.

Left

Disproportionate Ballot Rejection

On October 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued to obtain a court order separating mail-in ballots of roughly 20,000 likely noncitizens in California.
The alleged illegal votes represent only 0.00006% of California ballots, while hundreds of thousands of legitimate ballots are routinely rejected, disproportionately harming young and minority voters.
Operation Protect the Vote arrested 11 people and charged 28 lawful permanent residents.

Blindspot

Voting-rights groups say most of the 148,241 rejected mail ballots belong to eligible voters and that the rejections disproportionately affect younger voters and certain racial groups.
Within this story's sources, this angle appears mainly in Left-leaning coverage and receives less attention in Center-leaning coverage.

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Questionable Voter List

On October 20, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued California, seeking a court order to separate about 20,000 mail-in ballots of likely noncitizens.
California officials contend the DOJ’s list is unreliable and segregation of the ballots would be impractical.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Trent McCotter said segregation seeks citizenship verification, acknowledging possible list errors.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber warned the request would breach federal voting-rights protections.

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