The U.S. Dept. of Justice is seeking an emergency injunction against California over 20,000 "likely noncitizen" people on the state's voter rolls.
U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Dept. requested that California segregate any ballots from those registered voters in order to preserve election integrity.
'We filed an emergency court action against California seeking to ensure that noncitizens who received ballots in California do NOT vote in the upcoming election.'
The administration filed the lawsuit after Californian officials denied the request.
"This is of serious concern because California automatically mails ballots to every active registered voter on its voter rolls, whether a voter has requested a mail ballot or not," Blanche said in a post on social media.
"California has refused to comply and intends to facilitate noncitizens in voting, which is a violation of federal law," he added. "So, today we filed an emergency court action against California seeking to ensure that noncitizens who received ballots in California do NOT vote in the upcoming election."
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded she had "serious doubts" about the accuracy of the allegations and requested information about "the underlying data and methodology" so that her office could analyze the "vague and unsubstantiated allegations" from the Department of Homeland Security.
She went on to claim that a similar effort in Nevada did not find one noncitizen among a list of 16,000 likely noncitizen voters provided by DHS.
"If the federal government possesses proof that certain registered voters in California are ineligible, we will welcome the opportunity to review that evidence and any supporting data or methodology," she added.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta also criticized the administration's demands.
"Mail ballots are already in most voters’ hands, and Election Day is less than three weeks away," he posted in a statement on social media.
"Every count, recount, hand count, lawsuit, and audit has found that there's no widespread voter fraud in the U.S.," he added. "The Trump Admin’s last-minute demands are meritless, and we look forward to making our case in court."
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California Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, expressed outrage over the lawsuit in a statement on social media.
"This is a sad, desperate attempt by Trump to use his politicized Justice Department to try to suppress California voters just three weeks before Election Day," he posted.
"Courts have made clear the federal government has no role in running state elections," he added. "We will defend free and fair elections in the Golden State and call out every authoritarian attempt to undermine our democracy."
Voters in California will decide the state's next governor in the November election, as well as the fate of 14 propositions. Some key congressional races will also help determine which party controls Congress.
"Election integrity is a top priority for Americans and the Justice Department," Blanche concluded.
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