California officials challenge DOJ lawsuit over suspected non-citizen ballots

California Attorney General Rob Bonta is fighting a federal lawsuit from the Trump administration that seeks to force the state to segregate up to 20,000 ballots suspected of being cast by non-citizens.

Los Angeles election officials have challenged the reliability of the list provided by the Department of Homeland Security. A sample analysis of 200 names from the list revealed that approximately 38.9 percent had birthplace information indicating they were born in the United States. Furthermore, officials noted that only about 7,000 of the 20,000 flagged individuals actually reside in Los Angeles County.

The Department of Justice argues that California’s refusal to verify the citizenship of these flagged voters constitutes a willful disregard of federal law. However, Bonta characterized the litigation as a “reckless political stunt” that threatens to disenfranchise thousands of voters. The case arrives two weeks before midterm elections and tests the federal government's authority to intervene in state-run election processes.