Justice Department gives California counties 48 hours to identify and set aside ballots it says may belong to noncitizens
The New York Times, NBC News, the Los Angeles Times and the Guardian reported on Friday, Oct. 23, that the Justice Department sent letters to California county election officials demanding that they help identify potential noncitizen voters and set aside their ballots. CBS News and ABC7 Los Angeles reported that counties have 48 hours to provide identifying information and to set aside and verify the ballots. According to those reports, the Los Angeles County registrar’s office said at least 18 counties received similar letters, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli wrote that people who knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime. One letter said the government’s list includes 1,133 people in San Bernardino County. The reports described an earlier demand from Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter to Los Angeles County and Secretary of State Shirley Weber, and a lawsuit over more than 20,000 people the government alleges are likely noncitizens.
The letters ask election officials to act on a federal list before counting, which puts a federal request inside the local process that decides how ballots are counted. The reports also cite data from the Associated Press that illegal voting by noncitizens is rare and hard to prove.
The reports reviewed do not say any specific voter’s ballot has been rejected. If you vote in California and have a question about your ballot’s status, your county elections office is the place to ask.
The Justice Department’s side, as the letters are described, is that ballots identified by federal agencies as belonging to noncitizens should be set aside and verified, and that officials who knowingly tabulate them could face criminal exposure under Essayli’s warning.
The critics’ side comes through the reporting: the Los Angeles Times headline quoted a reaction, “This is not normal,” and AP-cited data indicate noncitizen voting is rare, hard to prove and has not been shown to change race outcomes. On this view, the demand is an unusual step with little evidence of wide abuse.
Confirmed: letters went out Friday with a 48-hour window and ask counties to set aside and verify certain ballots. Not confirmed: how many counties responded, whether any court has acted on the new letters, or how the federal list was built. Watch for county responses and any court filing as the 48 hours run out over the weekend.
DailyDrop U.S. No. 20 · October 24, 2026