In a new lawsuit filing, Los Angeles County election officials admit they cannot verify voters’ citizenship even as California refuses to accept repeated federal offers to make that possible.
“The Registrar is not equipped or authorized to verify voter citizenship because it does not independently house citizenship-related information beyond the voter attestation as identified in federal and state law (such as, among other things, immigration records, travel records, naturalization records, etc.) and certainly is not equipped to do so within the election period,” admits a new court filing publicized by U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.
The filing is part of a Trump administration lawsuit seeking to stop California from counting mail-in ballots from people federal records identify as possible noncitizens until their citizenship is confirmed. Those voters have already been sent ballots as part of California’s midterm election season, which lasts an entire month. Election seasons instead of election days maximize turnout by low-propensity voters, who trend Democrat.
The filing comes months after U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent a letter to four secretaries of state, including California’s, warning of noncitizens on their voter rolls and offering help to “ensure free, fair, and honest elections.” But California refuses to collaborate with the DHS to ensure their voter rolls are accurate.
The administration also gave California the opportunity to verify the citizenship status of roughly 20,000 individuals the federal government identified as “likely noncitizens” who had been sent mail-in ballots for this year’s midterms, which technically conclude Nov. 3 but in 30 states extend even beyond that with postmarked mail-in ballots. California also refused that opportunity to improve voter roll accuracy, leading to the earlier referenced lawsuit.
The filing also acknowledges California will not use the Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database for the 2026 election and that the registrar has no direct access to federal citizenship data. California, a sanctuary state, refuses to use the SAVE program to check citizenship status for voter eligibility.
SAVE allows states and local agencies to check a person’s immigration status. States submit information about a prospective voter, such as name and date of birth plus Social Security number or another identifier. Then the SAVE database checks that information against federal records from the Department of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, and Department of State and then determines if there’s a match for a citizen.
Currently, prospective voters registering must check a tiny square box on a federal registration form attesting under penalty of perjury that they are telling the truth about their citizenship status. This means many “free and fair elections” in the United States hinge on the honor system.
It’s a problem some Republicans have tried to rectify through the SAVE America Act, which would amend the 1993 National Voter Registration Act to require documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote and voter ID to cast a ballot. Democrats, however, have refused to support this massively popular election integrity legislation.
States across this country keep finding noncitizens on their voter rolls, making the legislation all the more necessary. For example, New Jersey Democrat Gov. Mikie Sherrill recently claimed a “software error” preceding her time in office allowed approximately 6,600 noncitizens to register to vote in the state. New Jersey is one of 30 states including California being sued in separate litigation for refusing to release voter rolls to check for improper or fraudulent voter registrations.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2