Trump DOJ Sends Ballot Verification Demands to 57 California Counties

The Justice Department expanded its election intervention in California on Friday, October 23, 2026, sending letters to election offices in 57 of the state’s 58 counties. Federal prosecutors gave local officials 48 hours to help verify the citizenship of voters the Trump administration alleges may be noncitizens and to segregate ballots when eligibility cannot be confirmed.

Los Angeles County was the only county not included in Friday’s statewide delivery because it had already received a similar notice. The new letters are a material expansion of an existing dispute that began with demands directed at state officials and Los Angeles County and later moved into federal court.

What federal prosecutors demanded

The Associated Press, citing a letter it obtained and the Los Angeles County registrar, reported that counties were asked to provide identifying records for people on federal lists. Requested information included Social Security and identification data, voter-registration applications and documents presented when the person registered or obtained a driver’s license.

The Los Angeles Times reported that a letter to Contra Costa County identified a subset of 407 people from a broader statewide list of roughly 20,000. A separate letter delivered to Santa Cruz County concerned 81 people. San Bernardino County’s letter identified 1,133 people, according to the AP report published by ABC7 Los Angeles.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said an election official who knowingly processes a noncitizen’s ballot could face legal jeopardy. U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian’s letter to Contra Costa County similarly warned about criminal consequences and asked the county to work with Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security officials. Those warnings state the government’s legal position; the letters themselves are not criminal charges or court findings about the listed voters.

California officials dispute the demand

County officials said they were consulting lawyers and reviewing the notices. Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber called the delivery outside normal protocol, while Contra Costa County Registrar Kristin Connelly described the threat as intimidating and said her office follows state and federal election law. The California attorney general’s office declined to comment to the Los Angeles Times on Friday.

California and Los Angeles County have disputed the reliability of the federal data and the administration’s authority to direct how they process ballots. State lawyers have warned that withholding ballots on the basis of unverified database matches could disenfranchise citizens and delay certification. The administration says federal law bars noncitizens from voting and that officials should not count ballots known to have been cast unlawfully.

Both propositions require careful distinction. Noncitizen voting in federal elections is illegal, but a federal designation of someone as a likely noncitizen does not establish that the person is ineligible, registered unlawfully or cast a ballot. The AP noted that documented noncitizen voting is rare and has not been shown to change an election result.

How the new letters fit the court fight

The Justice Department sued California on October 15 after state and Los Angeles County officials rejected an earlier 48-hour demand involving the list of roughly 20,000 people. The government seeks to stop ballots associated with those names from being counted until citizenship is verified. A hearing was scheduled for Tuesday, while the administration also asked the Ninth Circuit to act by Saturday, according to the AP report.

Friday’s letters do not by themselves cancel a registration or invalidate a vote. Their immediate effect is to place nearly every county election office under a new federal deadline while voting is underway. The next legal question is whether courts will authorize the administration’s requested ballot-segregation process and whether the government can substantiate its allegations about the people it has listed.

Sources and image credit

• Los Angeles Times — report on the letters sent to 57 counties, their contents and responses
• Associated Press via ABC7 Los Angeles — independent report on the statewide letters and court dispute
• U.S. Justice Department — October 15 announcement of the related California lawsuit
• Image: Mendocino County election ballot drop box by Sarah Stierch via Wikimedia Commons
• Original Wikimedia Commons image file
• Image license: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0