Respond in 48 Hours!!!!
AENN
Liz Ritchie, Secretary of State New California State
As of October 14, 2026 (evening PDT), California officials are resisting a new DOJ demand tied to ongoing efforts led by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s Civil Rights Division regarding potential noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls.
Latest Action (October 13, 2026 Letters).
Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent letters to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan. The DOJ provided a password-protected thumb drive (primarily to LA County) listing people it “believes are likely noncitizens” who were sent (or are slated to receive) mail-in ballots for the November 3, 2026, midterm election.Reuters Key demands (with a roughly 48-hour deadline, reported as noon Eastern on October 15):
Review the list to identify any U.S. citizens on it.
For those whose citizenship cannot be independently confirmed: segregate (do not cancel)
returned vote-by-mail ballots and do not tabulate them until status is determined.
Do not send ballots to anyone on the list who has not yet received one.
Failure to implement could lead the DOJ to seek emergency court relief.CBS News
DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels confirmed the letters and stated the department “will take all necessary legal action to protect election integrity and ensure compliance with federal law.” This follows a July 16 notification from DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin that the government believed noncitizens were on California’s rolls (with earlier public estimates around 190,000 in some reporting).CBS News California’s Response So Far
LA County (Dean Logan): Confirmed receipt of the USB drive but stated the office has not
accessed it because doing so would conflict with established data privacy and information security protocols.CBS News Secretary of State Shirley Weber: Has pushed back publicly. She noted her office did not receive the list, criticized prior DHS claims for lacking shared methodology/data (which she had requested and which were not provided), and described the demand as requiring the state to “blindly trust this administration without any evidence or legal authority.” She and state officials have framed it as unlawful interference that risks chaos and public distrust, consistent with California’s longstanding position of resisting unredacted voter data sharing and declining to use the federal SAVE database for screening.Miamiherald California mails ballots to all registered voters (ballots began going out around October 5). No full compliance or detailed review results have been reported as of the latest available information on October 14.
Broader Context Involving Harmeet Dhillon
Dhillon (AAG for Civil Rights) has driven related efforts:
In July 2026, she sent letters to election officials in all 50 states and D.C. warning that knowingly retaining noncitizens on voter rolls or facilitating their voting could lead to criminal liability under federal laws (including NVRA, HAVA, and related provisions).Thedartmouth
The DOJ under her division has sued multiple states (including California more than once) for
full/unredacted voter rolls to check for ineligible voters (dead people and noncitizens). Some
California cases were dismissed by federal judges citing privacy concerns and insufficient legal basis for the broad data demands. California has offered redacted inspection in some instances but resisted full electronic unredacted transfer.
Pjmedia Earlier (June 2025), DOJ sued Orange County’s registrar over noncitizen removal records after a complaint; the county reported identifying 17 such cases over five years but redacted sensitive data.Justice Dhillon has publicly reported DOJ reviews of tens of millions of records finding hundreds of thousands of deceased registrants and thousands of potential noncitizens across participating jurisdictions, while noting ongoing litigation with non-cooperating states including California.
The October 13 letters represent an escalation focused on current ballots ahead of the midterms rather than solely list-maintenance data. California officials continue to defend their procedures as compliant with federal law and emphasize that noncitizen voting is rare. The 48-hour window is still closing or just closed depending on exact timing; further litigation or formal responses are expected if demands are not met.
This is a developing situation with active legal and political disputes over federal access to state voter data, privacy, and election administration authority.
DOJ GIVES CALIFORNIA 48 HOURS TO REVIEW SUSPECTED NONCITIZEN VOTERS. �
DOJ DEMANDS FLAGGED BALLOTS BE HELD UNTIL CITIZENSHIP IS VERIFIED. �
DOJ THREATENS EMERGENCY LEGAL ACTION IF CALIFORNIA DOES NOT COMPLY. �
CALIFORNIA PUSHES BACK—QUESTIONING THE EVIDENCE AND FEDERAL DATA. �
THE WARNING IS REAL. THE FLAGGED VOTERS’ ELIGIBILITY REMAINS DISPUTED. �
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