Federal authorities have indicated the existence of a "separate batch" of over 17,000 potential noncitizen voters, as their ongoing federal court challenge to California's voter roll integrity faces scrutiny. This development follows Los Angeles County officials questioning the accuracy of a previous federal list of 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters, citing preliminary findings that nearly 40% of a sampled subset were U.S.-born.
The claims emerged in recent court filings, providing a clearer view of the Department of Homeland Security's extensive inquiry into California's voter registration rolls, occurring just weeks before a significant election. Nicolas Bartell, an official with Homeland Security, stated in a sworn affidavit that beyond the initial list of 20,000, his agency has compiled an additional "separate batch of more than 17,000 voting records potentially tied to noncitizens," with the review process continuing as records are received.
In response, Monica Flores, a representative from the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office, asserted in an affidavit that an initial review of 200 registrations from the federal government's list of 20,000 found over half were inactive. Crucially, for those where birthplace information was available, 38.9% indicated U.S. birth, suggesting U.S. citizenship. Flores argued that vetting thousands more before the election is administratively infeasible and risks disenfranchising legitimate voters.
The dispute underscores a broader legal and political conflict. The U.S. Attorney's office in Los Angeles characterized the county's inability to vet voters as a "massive concession," while Governor Gavin Newsom's office contended that the federal government's limited number of criminal charges, 28 out of 23 million voters, indicates a lack of widespread fraud, describing the issue as occurring in "isolated instances."
The Department of Justice has requested an emergency order to segregate ballots from the 20,000 flagged voters, alleging California's refusal to do so violates federal law. California officials, however, argue that the federal government lacks authority over state elections and is attempting to circumvent federal law that prohibits purges of voter rolls within 90 days of an election. State attorneys maintain the federal government has not provided sufficient evidence to support its claims against the entire list of 20,000 voters.
This legal battle intensifies concerns about the methodology used by federal authorities. Previous communications from Homeland Security had alleged potentially higher numbers of noncitizens registered to vote, but state officials have questioned the significant reduction in numbers and the reliability of the underlying data. Experts have also raised concerns, suggesting that the federal government's data-matching methods, involving third-party commercial data and public voter rolls, resemble those used by amateur researchers and may not yield conclusive results.
