The Justice Department has filed a suit against California on Thursday, accusing the state of failing to review a list of alleged non-citizens that President Donald Trump’s administration claims were sent mail-in ballots for next month’s midterm election, according to court records.
The lawsuit comes 48 hours after top Justice Department official and acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter demanded California voting officials access a password-protected thumb drive that is said to contain thousands of names of potential non-citizens believed to be on the state’s voter registration list.
McCotter made the demand in letters to state election officials Tuesday, including Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Dean Logan, head of the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder and County Clerk’s office. The letters allegedly gave state officials 48 hours to respond to the Justice Department’s demands and to confirm they were conducting a review while also moving to segregate any potential ballots that may have been returned from individuals whose names were on the thumb drive.
In the letters, McCotter wrote voters on the federal list who haven’t already been sent a ballot should not be sent one until their citizenship is verified, while ballots already returned by voters on the list should not be counted until their citizenship is verified.
California officials called the request legally baseless and a last-ditch effort by the Trump administration to intervene in the state’s election process.
“The USDOJ’s relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states’ protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections,” California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said. “California has robust state law requirements that only U.S. citizens can register to vote and that any non-eligible registrants are removed from the State’s voter rolls. My office and California election officials remain committed — as always — to ensuring a fair and smooth 2026 General Election.”
The LA County Clerk said in a separate statement they would refuse to access contents of the thumb drive, which was delivered to the office with a password attached on a sticky note.
“We do not consider the device a secure medium,” LA County Clerk Dean Logan said in the statement. “Additionally, the letter does not specify the number of individuals involved or describe the information contained in the records.”
The Justice Department claims in its lawsuit that it is not requesting a “purge” of the state’s voter rolls or to cancel votes. Instead, it is asking a judge to request the state to set aside ballots that are from individuals on its list of alleged non-citizens.
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