DOJ threatens to prosecute California election workers if they count 20,000 ballots. Trump says they'll "go to jail."
Justice Dept. says counting mail ballots from people it calls "likely noncitizens" could make workers accomplices. It hasn't explained its list.
The Justice Department warned Los Angeles County on Friday that election workers who count certain mail ballots could be prosecuted as accomplices to a federal crime. Hours later, President Trump shared the letter on Truth Social and wrote, "They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!"
The letter, from Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter, went to Assistant County Counsel Peter Bollinger, with copies to Secretary of State Shirley Weber and LA County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan. "If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime," it says. An aider and abettor is someone who helps another person commit a crime, and federal law punishes them the same as the person who commits it (18 U.S.C. § 2). Voting by noncitizens in federal elections is a crime (18 U.S.C. § 611).
Where the 20,000 names came from
On Thursday, the department sued California in federal court in Los Angeles to stop the state "from presently tabulating vote-by-mail ballots from likely noncitizens" until their citizenship is confirmed. The suit covers more than 20,000 names that the department sent LA County on a password-protected thumb drive, with a 48-hour deadline to review them. Logan said the drive didn't meet the county's security standards and wasn't opened. LA County Counsel Dawyn Harrison said the county can't act on the list because the administration hasn't explained how it was built. McCotter's Friday letter says the department used "internal immigration records" and data matching, Reuters reported.
The Department of Homeland Security once said California had 190,000 noncitizens on its rolls. When the administration claimed Nevada had 1,500 noncitizen voters, the real number turned out to be zero, the Associated Press reported.
"We cannot withhold or refuse to count ballots based solely on unverified allegations," Logan said Thursday. Weber said she "will not disenfranchise thousands of Californians" and argued that federal law bars systematic voter-roll purges within 90 days of a federal election (52 U.S.C. § 20507(c)(2)(A)). Attorney General Rob Bonta said the administration is in "unprecedented, baseless, lawless territory."
What comes next
No hearing date had been reported as of Saturday, and Weber, Bonta and Logan had not publicly answered Friday's letter. Counties are already processing mail ballots for Nov. 3. If anyone questions or pressures you about your vote, call the nonpartisan Election Protection hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE.
Sources
- AP via PBS NewsHour: "DOJ says California officials who process ballots from suspected noncitizens risk prosecution"
- Reuters via AOL: "Trump threatens California officials with imprisonment over stance on mail ballots"
- AP via PBS NewsHour: "Trump administration sues California to block counting of alleged noncitizen mail ballots"
- CBS News: "Justice Department sues California, claiming it's mailing ballots to more than 20,000 noncitizens"
- KQED: "Trump Administration Sues California After Demands to Prove Voters' Citizenship"
- Newsweek: "Trump Threatens 'Jail' In California Midterm Election Fight"
- 18 U.S.C. § 2, 18 U.S.C. § 611, and 52 U.S.C. § 20507 (Cornell Legal Information Institute)
- Election Protection (866-OUR-VOTE)
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