Feds Flag 17,000 More Possible Noncitizen Voters in California as Los Angeles Disputes List
The federal government’s fight with California over alleged noncitizen voting escalated in court filings this week, with a Homeland Security official disclosing a new batch of more than 17,000 voter records the agency says are potentially tied to noncitizens and Los Angeles County officials attacking the reliability of an earlier list.
In a sworn affidavit filed Monday, Nicolas Bartell, associate director of the Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, said the agency had developed a “separate batch” of records in addition to the roughly 20,000 names at the center of the Justice Department’s lawsuit, the Los Angeles Times reported. He wrote that the review is ongoing as USCIS receives records on a rolling basis before Election Day.
The Dispute
In an Oct. 13 letter to Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan, the Justice Department asked officials to review the list within 48 hours and to segregate, not cancel, mail ballots from anyone whose citizenship could not be independently confirmed. California officials refused, and the department sued last week, according to The Guardian.
The Justice Department has also charged 28 California residents with voting-related crimes, The New York Times reported. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter acknowledged at a Monday news conference that some names on the list may turn out to be citizens. “We’re not perfect, and that’s why we’ve asked California to cooperate with us,” he said, according to The Guardian.
Los Angeles Pushes Back
In declarations filed Tuesday, county election officials said only about 7,000 of the 20,000 names had Los Angeles County addresses. Staff reviewed a sample of 200 of those records and found that 112 corresponded to canceled or inactive registrations, meaning no general election ballot had been mailed. Of the records where birthplace was meaningfully reported, 38.9% listed a U.S. birthplace, which the county called strong evidence of citizenship, and about 71% showed no voting history, according to the filings as reported by the Times, The Guardian and election law scholar Rick Hasen.
The county also argued that even if it had grounds to question a voter’s eligibility, state and federal law require notice and a chance to respond before a ballot is rejected, a process it said could not be completed before certification deadlines.
Justice Department spokesperson Kiersten Pels told The Guardian that listing a U.S. birthplace on a registration form does not establish eligibility. “California cannot facilitate the violation of federal law,” she said, accusing the state of “willful blindness” for refusing to verify the citizenship of voters on the list.
Critics have pointed to Nevada, where DHS in July suggested as many as 16,000 noncitizens might be registered and later sent a list of 185 names that state officials said were all citizens, The Guardian reported. DHS has declined to share its matching methodology with states. The case is pending in federal court as California’s mail ballots continue to be returned ahead of Nov. 3.
Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit our syndication page for details and requirements.
