Justice Department orders California counties to set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens

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The Justice Department on Friday ordered California election officials to identify suspected noncitizens on voter rolls and set aside their mail-in ballot – warning that officials who knowingly count ballots cast by noncitizens could face criminal liability.

The stipulation marks an escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to scrutinize voter rolls as the government continues to double down on claims of voter fraud, fueled by President Donald Trump’s baseless allegations of widespread election cheating.

Letters sent to California county election officials asked them to work with the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to “identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not.”

“If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime,” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli wrote in a letter to San Bernardino County officials, seen by CNN.

The letters follow a demand earlier this month from Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, who gave Los Angeles County and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber 48 hours to review a federal list of suspected noncitizens who had been sent mail-in ballots. McCotter threatened to seek “emergency relief” if officials did not comply.

The earlier letter , sent Oct. 13, included a password-protected thumb drive containing names of people the administration “believes are likely non-citizens” who had been sent ballots for the November election. It asked officials to temporarily set aside ballots from people whose citizenship could not be confirmed, rather than cancel their registrations.

“Maintaining accurate voter registration records is a fundamental responsibility of our office,” Los Angeles County Clerk Dean C. Logan said in a statement , after receiving the Oct. 13 letter.

“Federal and state laws are clear on how voter eligibility is established – and any action to remove a voter from eligibility must be based on verifiable information, not assertions of unconfirmed data matching.”

The Justice Department last week sued California and Los Angeles County, seeking to prevent officials from counting more than 20,000 mail-in ballots associated with people the government believes are likely noncitizens. A federal judge scheduled a hearing on the case for next week, but the Justice Department on Friday asked the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to intervene before then.

“Every minute of processing that occurs without segregating the ballots of suspected ineligible voters causes untraceable disenfranchisement and dilution of the votes of United States citizens,” the motion noted.

A similar legal battle is unfolding in Alaska , where the Trump administration is seeking to block certification of the state’s Senate race under certain circumstances if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses. The race is being closely watched as Democrats seek to regain control of the Senate.

The administration has repeatedly alleged that hundreds of thousands of noncitizens are on voter rolls.

In August, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said his department had identified 250,000 people it believed were noncitizens and registered to vote in four states, including California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Nevada, by comparing voter-registration records with federal immigration data.

But the administration’s claims have faced scrutiny, and some initial findings have not held up under further review. In Nevada, for example, DHS told state officials that its initial finding of 15,900 potentially noncitizen registrants was preliminary and unvetted, and that it had confirmed only 185 through manual review.

Last month, Nevada officials told DHS their subsequent review found that all 185 were US citizens, a conclusion the federal agency disputes.

In response to Friday’s letters, Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), a ranking member of the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee with oversight over federal elections, called the administration “afraid and desperate.”

“Trump’s DOJ has not provided any evidence for their claims of massive voter fraud. They’ve admitted that the data they point to is inaccurate and unreliable. No matter how many lawsuits they file or how many election officials they threaten, they do not have the authority to interfere,” Padilla said.

“The Trump administration is afraid and desperate. Their attempts to take over our elections will fail. Election officials: We have your back. California: Your vote is your voice. Use it and let’s hold this administration accountable.”

CNN’s Norma Galea contributed to this report

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images

美国司法部周五下令加州选举官员查明选民名册上疑似非公民的身份，并将他们的邮寄选票搁置一旁——并警告说，明知故犯地统计非公民选票的官员可能面临刑事责任。

这项规定标志着特朗普政府加大了对选民登记册的审查力度，因为政府继续加倍强调选民欺诈的说法，而这些说法又受到了唐纳德·特朗普总统毫无根据的关于选举舞弊的指控的推动。

寄给加州各县选举官员的信件要求他们与司法部和国土安全部合作，“确定随附名单上的哪些人是公民，哪些人不是公民”。

“如果有人明知故犯地统计被联邦机构认定为非公民的个人所投的选票，他们就有可能成为联邦犯罪的帮凶和教唆者，”美国第一助理检察官比尔·埃萨利在写给圣贝纳迪诺县官员的一封信中写道，CNN看到了这封信。

这些信件是在本月初代理副司法部长特伦特·麦考特发出要求之后发出的。麦考特要求洛杉矶县和加州州务卿雪莉·韦伯在48小时内审查一份联邦政府提供的疑似非公民名单，这些非公民已被寄送邮寄选票。麦考特威胁说，如果官员们不遵守规定，他将寻求“紧急救济”。

此前于10月13日发出的信函中附有一个密码保护的U盘，里面存有政府“认为很可能不是公民”但已收到11月大选选票的人员名单。信中要求官员暂时搁置那些公民身份无法确认的人员的选票，而不是取消他们的选民登记。

洛杉矶县书记官迪恩·C·洛根在收到 10 月 13 日的信件后发表声明称：“维护准确的选民登记记录是我们办公室的一项基本职责。”

“联邦和州法律对如何确定选民资格有明确规定——任何取消选民资格的行动都必须基于可验证的信息，而不是未经证实的数据匹配断言。”

上周，美国司法部起诉加利福尼亚州和洛杉矶县，试图阻止官员清点超过2万张邮寄选票，政府认为这些选票的持有者很可能不是公民。一名联邦法官已安排下周就此案举行听证会，但司法部于上周五请求美国第九巡回上诉法院在此之前介入。

该动议指出：“在处理过程中，每多花一分钟时间，如果不对疑似不合格选民的选票进行隔离，就会造成无法追踪的剥夺选举权行为，并削弱美国公民的投票权。”

类似的法律战也在阿拉斯加上演。特朗普政府试图在特定情况下阻止该州参议员选举结果的认证，前提是共和党参议员丹·沙利文败选。由于民主党力图重新夺回参议院的控制权，这场选举备受关注。

政府多次声称，数十万非公民被列入选民名册。

8 月，国土安全部长马克韦恩·穆林表示，他的部门通过将选民登记记录与联邦移民数据进行比较，确定了 25 万名他认为是非公民并在加利福尼亚州、宾夕法尼亚州、新泽西州和内华达州等四个州登记投票的人。

但政府的说法受到了质疑，一些初步调查结果在进一步审查中站不住脚。例如，在内华达州，国土安全部告诉州政府官员，其最初发现的15900名可能非公民的登记人员只是初步结果，未经核实，并且通过人工审查仅确认了其中185人。

上个月，内华达州官员告诉国土安全部，他们随后的审查发现所有 185 人都是美国公民，但联邦机构对这一结论提出异议。

针对周五的信件，负责监督联邦选举的美国参议院规则和行政委员会资深成员、加州民主党参议员亚历克斯·帕迪利亚称本届政府“感到恐惧和绝望”。

帕迪利亚说：“特朗普的司法部没有提供任何证据来支持他们关于大规模选民舞弊的说法。他们已经承认，他们引用的数据不准确、不可靠。无论他们提起多少诉讼，或者威胁多少选举官员，他们都无权干预选举。”

“特朗普政府既害怕又绝望。他们企图掌控我们选举的阴谋必将失败。选举官员们：我们支持你们。加州：你们的选票就是你们的声音。行使你们的权利，让我们共同追究本届政府的责任。”

CNN记者诺玛·加利亚对本报道亦有贡献。