DOJ's 'noncitizen voters' list under question: LA County sample analysis finds a high share say they were born in the US

The Justice Department's list of alleged noncitizens registered to vote in California includes a 'high percentage' of individuals who say they were born in the U.S., Los Angeles officials have said. The picture emerged from an analysis of a relatively small sample.

The Justice Department says some 20,000 people in California are 'likely' noncitizens who are nevertheless registered to vote, and it wants ballots associated with those individuals segregated. But an initial review by local officials suggests the list is 'unreliable' and that some people on it had indicated in records that they were born in the U.S. and therefore may be citizens.

In court papers filed Tuesday, two officials in the county registrar's office delivered the results of their 'preliminary analysis' of 200 individuals from the DOJ's list.

Of those 200 individuals, officials said, nearly 40 percent 'indicate that they were born in the United States, which is strong evidence of citizenship; and 71.2 percent of the records have no voting history.' Monica Flores, an assistant registrar in the Los Angeles County Clerk's Office, gave the same picture in her declaration, writing that of the voters where birthplace was 'meaningfully reported', 38.9 percent indicated they were born in the United States.

For context, more than 16 million votes were cast in California in 2024, and officials there say more than 23 million individuals are currently registered to vote in the state.

During a press conference on Monday, Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter attracted some scrutiny when he acknowledged that the administration's list likely included errors, and that 'there may be some names on there who it turns out ultimately are citizens'. 'We're not perfect and that's why we've asked California to cooperate with us,' McCotter said. 'These are the ones where we're kind of the most confident that they are noncitizens.'

In a statement, DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels accused California of 'willful blindness'. 'California cannot facilitate the violation of federal law,' Pels said. 'We notified California that noncitizens are likely registered to vote, and we asked the state to independently verify the citizenship of any ballots cast by people on a list that we provided. It refused to do so. Federal law doesn't permit this willful blindness.'

Flores wrote in her declaration that the Justice Department's proposed process for segregating ballots for these individuals 'would risk disenfranchising voters who are validly registered'. She added that the process 'jeopardizes that core right for potentially thousands of voters, not to mention the finalization of election results, confidence in election results, and the ability to allow new elected officials to be instated'.

The saga began in earnest last week when the Justice Department delivered a thumb drive to Los Angeles County that contained the list of roughly 20,000 people who investigators at the Department of Homeland Security say are 'likely noncitizens' and registered to vote somewhere in California. Initially, county officials declined to open the list, citing the security threat of inserting a thumb drive of unknown origin into a government computer. The next day, the DOJ emailed a spreadsheet with the same list.

Out of the 20,000 names on the list, only 7,035 had addresses in Los Angeles County and some were duplicates, according to a separate Tuesday court filing by Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan.

The state says doing what the DOJ requests would be unfeasible this close to the election and would likely break federal and state election laws. 'At best, this litigation is a reckless political stunt,' the state wrote in Tuesday's filing. 'At worst, it threatens to disenfranchise thousands of Californians this election.' The state and local officials submitted the filings in response to a lawsuit filed by the federal government.

Flores wrote that the review is preliminary and quality control is continuing, but that it indicates the October list is unreliable. What happens next with the 20,000 names before votes are counted will now depend on the court's decision.