DOJ Sues California, Alleging 20K Noncitizens Are Registered On State Voter Roll

The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint against the State of California on Thursday for allegedly having over 20,000 likely illegal aliens registered to vote, the department announced.

The 16-page complaint, addressed to the California Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber and Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan, claimed that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) found the names through an analysis of voter rolls and federal data. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Trump DOJ Launches Probe Into New Jersey City Over ‘Egregious’ Firearm Permit Process)

The complaint also noted that each registered voter is automatically sent federal ballots under state law, meaning that thousands of these “likely noncitizens” had been sent mail-in ballots in early October.

“State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a DOJ statement. “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.”

In the statement, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said that the analysis and review of the voter rolls is ongoing, but noted that this is “completely unacceptable,” as even a noncitizen vote cancels out the vote of an American citizen, adding that this “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,” Mullin continued.

The complaint added that mail-in ballots contain voting for state, local, and federal elections, and that California does not warn aliens that voting in a federal election is a federal offense. The complaint further alleges that the state is lax in its review of signatures on ballots, often counting ballots cast with a signature sporting an “X” rather than a name.

Mail ballots are already in most voters’ hands, and Election Day is less than three weeks away. Every count, recount, hand count, lawsuit, and audit has found that there’s no widespread voter fraud in the U.S. The Trump Admin’s last-minute demands are meritless, and we look forward to making our case in court.

“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,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California said in the DOJ statement. “We are taking California to federal court to demand that the votes of American citizens not be diluted by noncitizens.”

Democrat California Gov. Gavin Newsom responded to the filing, calling it a “sad” and ” desperate attempt” by President Donald Trump to use his DOJ to suppress California voters just three weeks before the November midterm elections.

“The courts have made clear that the federal government has no role in how a state carries out its election process, and now, in the middle of Californians voting, they have asked local officials — who do a damn good job defending democracy — to violate federal law,” Newsom said. “A totally unprecedented request that should scare the hell out of every American. We will continue to carry out free and fair elections in the Golden State — and call out this authoritarian as he tries every play in the dictator’s playbook.”