The Trump administration has issued a stern warning to election officials in California, indicating potential criminal prosecution for counting ballots from suspected noncitizens as the conflict over voting intensifies just weeks before Election Day.
In a harshly-worded letter sent out on Friday, the Justice Department cautioned that election workers who knowingly process ballots identified by federal authorities as noncitizens might face federal criminal investigations.
This drastic move followed a lawsuit filed just one day earlier, which sought to prevent the counting of mail-in ballots from around 20,000 suspected noncitizens.
Trent McCotter, the acting deputy attorney general, wrote that the legal implications for either facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are quite serious. Noncitizen voting in a federal election is considered a federal crime, and knowingly enabling such actions is also illegal.
McCotter further warned election officials accountable for counting votes, emphasizing that if they knowingly tally ballots from individuals marked as noncitizens by federal agencies, they could be seen as accomplices to a federal crime.
The letter was directed specifically to the Los Angeles County Counsel’s office, with copies sent to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan.
This latest action underscores the administration’s escalating campaign against alleged noncitizen voting as the November 3 election approaches.
Federal officials have reported identifying about 20,000 likely noncitizens who received mail-in ballots, as California automatically sends ballots to all registered voters.
The Justice Department requested that state officials access a password-protected thumb drive containing the names within just 48 hours.
When California did not comply by the deadline, the administration responded with a lawsuit designed to halt the counting of ballots until the citizenship status of the voters could be confirmed.
LA’s top federal prosecutor, Bill Essayli, stated that California election officials had a chance to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls and to sequester ballots returned by suspected ineligible voters, but they refused to take action. He added that the aim is to ensure the votes of American citizens are not diluted by those of noncitizens.
Weber, on her part, has countered that federal authorities have not presented any evidence to back up their serious claims.
This dispute is a segment of a larger crackdown, wherein the administration has requested sensitive voter information from states, including birth dates, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and parts of Social Security numbers.
In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed that about 250,000 noncitizens were registered to vote across California, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania—an assertion that has been met with skepticism by state election officials.
In Nevada, federal authorities initially indicated that 1,500 noncitizen voters were flagged, but a later review found no registered noncitizens among those marked.
This year, the Justice Department has charged approximately 90 individuals with various election-related offenses, with around 50 being accused of voting illegally as noncitizens.
