Follow-Up: DOJ Sues California, Asking Court to Block Counting of Mail Ballots From More Than 20,000 Alleged Noncitizen Voters

Thursday, October 15, 2026 · California · GSM News

SACRAMENTO — The U.S. Justice Department sued California on October 15, asking a federal judge to block the state from counting mail ballots returned by a group of voters. According to Reuters, the lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, asks the court to bar California from tabulating, in federal elections, vote-by-mail ballots received from more than 20,000 voters on a Justice Department list until their immigration status is verified. The department says the people on the list are likely noncitizens. The ballots are for the November 3 midterm elections.

The suit follows a 48-hour ultimatum the department issued earlier this week. As GSM reported on October 13, acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter wrote to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan giving state and county officials 48 hours to review a list of names. The list was delivered to Los Angeles County on a password-protected thumb drive; the department said the people named were likely noncitizens who had been sent mail ballots. The letters demanded that returned ballots from voters on the list be segregated and not tabulated until citizenship was determined, and that ballots not yet sent be withheld until status was confirmed. McCotter wrote in the letter: "Allowing noncitizens to vote cancels citizen votes."

According to the Washington Examiner's account of the filing, the Justice Department says the Department of Homeland Security found thousands of likely noncitizens registered to vote who would automatically be mailed ballots under California's system, and that the federal government alerted Weber to the names in July but California made no serious effort to review them. Weber responded on Wednesday that President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed in July that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls — claims she said remain unsubstantiated — and that when the state asked for the methodology and data sources behind them, the request was refused.

USA Today reported that Logan has said his office did not open the thumb drive sent with the letters, saying doing so conflicted with privacy and information-security procedures. Reuters said neither Weber's nor Logan's office immediately responded to requests for comment on the lawsuit on Thursday. A Justice Department spokesperson has said that voting by noncitizens in U.S. federal elections is a federal crime and that the department is asking California to ensure it does not occur.

The U.S. Constitution assigns responsibility for administering elections to the states, with the federal government holding some oversight role. The November 3 midterms will decide control of both houses of Congress, where Republicans are defending narrow majorities. Whether California contests the suit and whether a judge issues an order before the election will decide the fate of more than 20,000 mail ballots. GSM's earlier report, published October 13, was headlined "Justice Department Gives California Secretary of State 48 Hours to Review Alleged Noncitizen Voter List"; this article is a follow-up to that report.

(Sources: Reuters, Washington Examiner and USA Today reports, October 15, 2026)

Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 美国司法部总部大楼（罗伯特·F·肯尼迪司法部大楼）资料照片。APK 摄，CC BY 4.0，维基共享资源

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