California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber criticized the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)for demanding that state election officials investigate voters suspected of being noncitizens just weeks before the Nov. 3 general election.
“The U.S. DOJ’s relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states’ protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections,” Weber said in an Oct. 14 statement.
Weber said her office received a demand to investigate an unspecified number of individuals the federal government believes are “likely noncitizens.” However, the DOJ did not provide her office with the list and gave California just 48 hours to obtain it, investigate and take action.
The demand comes as the DOJ, working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seeks to block California from counting mail-in ballots from approximately 20,000 registered voters whose citizenship status the federal government has questioned.
“State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America,” said U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. “If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated laws that protect our nation’s representative system of government.”
According to Weber’s office, the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk received the federal government’s list on a password-protected thumb drive, with the password written on a sticky note.
Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan said his office declined to access the files because the device did not meet established security standards.
“We have not accessed the drive because doing so would conflict with established data privacy and information security protocols,” Logan said. “We do not consider the device a secure medium.”
Weber also challenged earlier federal allegations that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls, saying the Trump administration had failed to provide evidence or explain its methodology despite requests from her office.
“California has robust state law requirements that only U.S. citizens can register to vote and that any non-eligible registrants are removed from the state’s voter rolls,” Weber said. “My office and California election officials remain committed – as always – to ensuring a fair and smooth 2026 general election.”
The DOJ’s letters to the California secretary of state and Los Angeles County election officialsoutline the federal government’s demands.
