A Los Angeles election official told a court she cannot check voter citizenship. She said her office does not keep separate records for this. This admission came in a Justice Department lawsuit filed on Tuesday. The federal government claims over 20,000 likely noncitizens got mail ballots. These ballots were sent before the midterm elections. The case shows a sharp split on voting rules. Federal prosecutors say the state is failing its duty. Governor Gavin Newsom says the state follows the law.
Bill Essayli is a federal prosecutor appointed by Donald Trump. He called the official’s statement a huge concession. He argued that election staff just trust what voters say. Essayli shared this view on social media platforms. He cited two federal laws that ban noncitizen voting. He claimed citizen votes are being diluted in California. Newsom’s press office replied sharply to the prosecutor. They told him to study election laws more closely. They referenced a 1993 federal law about sworn promises. Voters must swear under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. This applies to DMV registrations and federal mail forms. Newsom’s office suggested Essayli might need a lower rank.
The Justice Department checked voter records against immigration data. This initial search flagged the 20.000 names in question. The DOJ asked a federal court to reject those ballots. The court needed proof of citizenship before counting them. Monica Flores is the Los Angeles County registrar. She argued that separating those ballots is now impossible. Once a signature is checked, the ballot leaves its envelope. It is then mixed with hundreds of thousands of others. The county has already processed 331.000 ballots total. Flores noted her office is not a police unit. She said no law gives her team investigative power.
Staff reviewed a sample of 200 records from the list. They found that 112 of those records were inactive. For voters with birthplace data, many were born in the US. This serves as strong proof of citizenship status. Most records showed no history of voting before. Essayli dismissed these numbers as having no meaning. He pointed out the office admitted it cannot verify status. The Justice Department charged 28 people from the list. They are legal residents accused of fraud charges. They allegedly lied on naturalization application forms. Officials say most of them voted without permission. The money trail shows a fight over control. The federal government spent funds to build the list. The state spent funds to process the votes. Voters are stuck in the middle of this fight. The court will decide if the ballots count. The records show a system based on trust. The prosecutor says that trust is broken now. The governor says the system works as planned. The evidence sits in the court documents. The next step is a ruling on ballot validity.