A public dispute between Governor Gavin Newsom’s office and a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor has put a spotlight on whether California is doing enough to keep noncitizens off its voter rolls, as a Justice Department lawsuit over more than 20,000 flagged registrations moves through federal court.
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for California’s Central District, this week pointed to a court filing in which a Los Angeles County election official acknowledged that her office “is not equipped or authorized to verify voter citizenship because it does not independently house citizenship-related information beyond the voter attestation.”
The official, Monica Flores of the LA County Registrar’s Office, made the statement as part of the Justice Department’s lawsuit demanding that California verify the citizenship of more than 20,000 people federal officials believe are likely noncitizens who were mailed ballots ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
Essayli called the admission a “massive concession” showing that election officials simply take voters at their word. “American citizens’ votes are being diluted in California,” he wrote.
Newsom’s press office responded on social media by noting that California follows a 1993 federal law requiring anyone registering to vote through the DMV to swear, under penalty of perjury, that they are a U.S. citizen — a requirement that also applies to federal mail-in registration forms. “May want to brush up on your election law before tweeting,” the governor’s office wrote, adding a jab suggesting Essayli should go by “Second Assistant” instead.
Essayli answered by citing two federal statutes making it unlawful for noncitizens to vote in federal elections, keeping the exchange going on the central legal question in the case: whether California must take extra steps to check citizenship once the federal government flags possible problems with the voter rolls.
How the list was compiled
According to the Justice Department’s complaint, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services cross-checked California’s voter registration records against federal immigration data. DOJ lawyers described that process as “preliminary,” but it produced a list of more than 20,000 registered voters flagged as likely noncitizens. Ballots began going out to California voters on Oct. 1.
In its original complaint, filed Oct. 15, the Justice Department asked a federal court to order California to set aside mail ballots tied to people on the list until their citizenship could be confirmed.
Flores argued that request is now largely impossible to carry out. Once a mail ballot’s signature is verified, she said, it is separated from its identifying envelope and processed along with hundreds of thousands of others. As of this week, the county had already processed 331,000 ballots, according to her court statement. She also noted the registrar’s office is “not an investigative agency” and said she was unaware of any state or federal law giving it investigative authority.
A sample review
Registrar’s office staff nonetheless reviewed a sample of 200 records from the Justice Department’s list tied to LA County addresses. The results, according to Flores’ statement:
- 112 of the 200 records correspond to registrations that are canceled or inactive.
- Of voters where birthplace was meaningfully reported, 38.9% indicated they were born in the United States.
- 71.2% of the records have no voting history at all.
Essayli dismissed those figures as beside the point. “These numbers are meaningless because, by their own admission, they have no way to verify anyone’s citizenship status or their birthplace,” he told Fox News.
Cases already filed
The dispute comes amid evidence that at least some names on the federal list reflect real violations. On Monday, the Justice Department charged 28 individuals from the list — all lawful permanent residents — with making false statements on naturalization applications and fraudulently registering to vote. Officials said most of them had cast unlawful ballots in past elections.
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