United States Sues California After Determining More Than 20,000 Likely Noncitizens Are Registered to Vote in the Golden State

LOS ANGELES - The Justice Department, working with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), today filed a complaint against the State of California over its voter list after determining that more than 20,000 people who are likely aliens are registered to vote in California. Under California law, every registered voter is mailed a ballot. It is unlawful for aliens to vote in federal elections.

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), in coordination with federal partners, analyzed publicly available voter-registration records to identify potential indicators that aliens may have registered to vote, cast ballots, or received election-related mail. The Department of Justice has filed a complaint against the State of California alleging that these individuals, who are likely noncitizens, registered to vote and/or voted in a federal election. HSI and its federal partners used multiple data-enrichment and verification methods to assess whether the individuals identified were likely aliens.

According to the lawsuit, the federal government sent relevant California officials a list of more than 20,000 names of people that it believes are likely noncitizens who were sent a vote-by-mail ballot from California to participate in the federal election. The federal government asked California to review the list and, in partnership with federal agencies, to determine whether citizens were listed. California failed to do so.

"State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America," said 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. The Department of Justice will continue working to uncover cases of voter fraud, hold fraudsters accountable, and restore trust in American elections."

"California election officials were given an opportunity to remove noncitizens from their voter rolls and to sequester ballots returned from suspected ineligible voters. They refused," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. "We are taking California to federal court to demand that the votes of American citizens not be diluted by noncitizens."

"It is unlawful for noncitizens to vote in federal elections," said Secretary Markwayne Mullin of DHS. "The Department of Homeland Security and our federal partners reviewed publicly available California voter-registration files and compared relevant records with federal immigration data to identify alien registrants. This preliminary analysis has identified a significant number of individuals in California who are likely noncitizens and appear to be registered to vote; the analysis and review remain ongoing. This is completely unacceptable - as even one noncitizen vote cancels out the ballot of an American citizen and undermines our elections. DHS is committed to identifying unlawful voting, protecting the integrity of federal elections, and ensuring that only eligible American citizens elect America's leaders."

"The law is clear, aliens in the United States cannot vote in federal elections," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter. "What our complaint alleges is that California is facilitating unlawful voting by knowingly allowing noncitizens to vote. This needs to stop."

The United States is requesting the court prevent California from presently tabulating vote-by-mail ballots from likely noncitizens in the upcoming federal election until the voter's citizenship status can be determined. The lawsuit seeks an order that California set aside vote-by-mail ballots from persons identified by the federal government likely to be noncitizens and to independently - or in collaboration with the federal government - verify their citizenship status beyond relying on unverified statements of citizenship necessary to registering before tabulating their vote-by-mail ballot.

The United States seeks to prevent unlawful dilution of American citizens' votes and to protect the integrity of our nation's elections.