Fact Check: DOJ claims 20,000 noncitizens on California voter rolls without evidence

Published October 16, 2026 • By Naeemofficial782

The Justice Department sued California on Thursday, asking a federal judge to bar the state from counting mail-in ballots from roughly 20,000 people the federal government describes as "likely noncitizens" until their citizenship status can be confirmed.

The lawsuit, filed in the Central District of California, alleges that California is knowingly allowing noncitizens to vote in federal elections. It followed a letter from acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, who gave the state 48 hours to review a password-protected thumb drive containing the names — a drive that Los Angeles County election officials said arrived with a handwritten password on a sticky note.

But the federal government has not produced the evidence behind its claim. And California's top election official says the list itself was never sent to her office.

What the DOJ claims

The Justice Department says it conducted a "multiagency and multilevel review" comparing California voter registration records against federal immigration data. That review, according to the DOJ, determined with "high confidence" that approximately 20,000 "likely noncitizens" are registered to vote in California and were sent vote-by-mail ballots for the November 3 election.

"This is not political or controversial," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. "We will not allow California to dilute the votes of American citizens."

The lawsuit asks the court to order California to set aside ballots from anyone on the list whose citizenship cannot be independently verified.

What California says

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber wrote to the Justice Department on Thursday that the federal government had only listed "individuals that the federal government 'believes' are 'likely' non-citizens" — without providing any evidence or methodology to support the claim.

"Despite failing to send the list of alleged non-citizens to my office, you demand that we request transmittal of the list, review and confirm the citizenship status of each of the approximately 20,000 individuals on the list on the eve of an election and within a mere 48 hours. This is an emergency of the DOJ's creation."

Weber also referenced a specific precedent: earlier this year, the federal government alleged that nearly 16,000 possible noncitizens were on Nevada's voter rolls. Nevada investigated and determined that all of them were U.S. citizens. She said the same methodology problem appears to be present here.

The Department of Homeland Security had claimed in July that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls. When Weber's office requested written information about the methodology and data sources, DHS refused and "provided California with nothing," according to her statement.

The timeline problem

The DOJ's demand came 21 days before the November 3 general election. Voting is already underway. Under California law, every registered voter is mailed a ballot, and ballots have already been distributed.

California law also prohibits any voter cancellations after August 5. Election officials have specific procedures they must follow before culling a voter from registration lists or setting aside any ballots — procedures that cannot be completed in 48 hours.

Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan said his office had not accessed the thumb drive because "doing so would conflict with established data privacy and information security protocols." He said he did not consider the device a secure medium.

Why the verdict is Unproven

The DOJ's claim may ultimately be correct. Noncitizen voting does occur, though election experts generally believe it is very rare and not on the scale the Trump administration alleges. But a claim is not proven simply because it has been made in a federal lawsuit.

The federal government has not released the methodology behind its list. It has not provided the names to the Secretary of State's office. It has not explained how it determined that 20,000 people are "likely noncitizens." It has not addressed the Nevada precedent, where a similar federal claim collapsed under scrutiny.

California's voter rolls contain 23.16 million registered voters. Even if every one of the 20,000 names on the DOJ's list were confirmed as a noncitizen — which has not happened — that would represent 0.086% of the state's registered voters. The claim is specific and testable. The evidence to support it has not yet been produced.