President Donald Trump promised there will be severe punishment for California election officials who intentionally count ballots cast by alleged noncitizens in the midterm elections.
“They will all go to jail for a long period of time,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday. Beneath his brief message was a letter from the Department of Justice to Los Angeles County that warned local officials of the legal consequences they bring upon themselves if they’re caught tabulating ballots belonging to “likely” noncitizens.
“The legal consequences for either facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are significant. Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime — and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful,” acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter wrote in the letter. “If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.”
The letter was sent to Peter Bollinger of the Los Angeles County counsel’s office and copied to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan.
The warning came one day after the DOJ sued California for allegedly refusing to review a list of suspected noncitizens who received mail-in ballots to vote in the midterm elections. The lawsuit was filed days after the DOJ sent letters to Weber and Logan, asking them to review the list of noncitizens’ names. Neither complied.
The most recent letter says the “password-protected dataset” contained the identities of more than 20,000 individuals believed to be noncitizens who are registered to vote in California, adding that the list was created “through a multilayered, multiagency investigative methodology that relied upon internal immigration records, data matching, supervisory verification procedures, and more.”
The Trump administration’s reiterated demand for noncitizen voter information marks a significant escalation in its fight with California over election integrity.
Last year, the DOJ sued California demanding the state hand over its voter rolls containing detailed information, including names, addresses, dates of birth, driver’s licenses, and partial Social Security numbers. A federal judge dismissed that case earlier this year over concerns about privacy protections.
Now, the DOJ is asking the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to prohibit the state from tabulating ballots cast by likely noncitizens in the election until their citizenship status can be verified. While pursuing the case, the DOJ hopes the California election officials will change their minds and start cooperating.
“The Department strongly urges the County and the [California secretary of state] to reconsider their positions before taking actions that risk significant federal scrutiny and legal exposure,” the DOJ concluded in its letter.
DOJ SUES CALIFORNIA OVER ALLEGED NONCITIZENS ON VOTER ROLLS LEFT UNCHECKED
Logan responded to the letter, saying his office is committed to conducting a fair and secure election while dismissing the administration’s legal threat.
“The U.S. Department of Justice has chosen to litigate their unverified assertions of voting eligibility,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “At this point, it is best for this to be addressed in court.”