20,000 Ballots: California Defies 48-Hour Federal Audit
State officials reject a federal demand to verify citizenship for 20,000 voters before the midterm elections, citing a lack of evidence and a compressed timeline.
By Mei Ling ·
Federal prosecutors have demanded that California election officials verify the citizenship status of roughly 20,000 voters within 48 hours. The order arrives less than two weeks before the midterm elections, a timeframe state leaders argue is too short to process the request without risking the disenfranchisement of eligible citizens.
The dispute began earlier this week when the Department of Justice sent letters to county election officials. The department requested cooperation to provide necessary information for the Department of Homeland Security to quickly verify citizenship status. Prosecutors framed the effort as a measure to secure the vote, stating that county help would ensure the most secure election in California history.
State officials rejected the rapid timeline. Attorney General Rob Bonta accused the Trump administration of acting at the direction of President Donald Trump. He described the move as politicizing and weaponizing the law to attack political enemies. Bonta noted that officials received only names on the list, with no explanation of why those individuals were supposedly ineligible.
Los Angeles election officials provided data suggesting the list included many eligible voters. They reported that a high percentage of the people named were born in the United States. Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the federal push on social media, claiming the department sent lists of people who never voted and voters from the wrong county. He called the process an absolute clown show.
Congressman Pete Aguilar, representing south-west San Bernardino county, wrote that voter intimidation has no place in democracy. The federal government has intensified its focus on noncitizen voting as the midterms approach. Recently, prosecutors charged 28 foreign nationals with fraudulently registering to vote. Bill Essayli, the first assistant US attorney, said these arrests proved California was mailing ballots to noncitizens in violation of federal law.
The 28 defendants are lawful permanent residents who hold legal status in the US but are not citizens eligible to vote. Bonta said the state would review the information if provided, but the federal government has not supplied any. Some state officials took no action on the letters sent Friday, citing the approaching election date.
The legal fight over the 48-hour deadline is now before the courts. An appeals court is scheduled to hear the matter on Tuesday.
Source: The Guardian
