The Justice Department announced on Monday it was charging 28 noncitizens with election crimes in California, a sharp escalation in the Trump administration’s feud with the state over its voting system that is set to run through Election Day and beyond.
The 28 are green card holders accused of illegally registering to vote or casting ballots in US elections, according to reports. The DOJ also filed an emergency request in federal court to stop California from processing ballots returned by people on the voter rolls whom the federal government says are “likely noncitizens”. The state has asked how the federal government reached its conclusions but has not received an answer.
A feud years in the making
“This Department of Justice will not look the other way while noncitizens vote in federal elections,” Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said at a Monday press conference, according to reports. “Unfortunately the same can’t be said for California and L.A. County.”
The latest action continues a saga that began this summer and took a major turn last week, when a flash drive containing 20,000 names was delivered to Los Angeles County with a 48-hour deadline to investigate them. Local and state officials declined, and the federal government sued, according to reports.
Context and pushback
Noncitizen voting has never been found to be a widespread problem in American elections, but the Trump administration is devoting significant resources to uncovering the ineligible voting that does occur, with the DOJ announcing handfuls of new charges almost every day as early voting gets underway in many states, according to reports. California officials have called the federal demands “outrageous”, describing months of vague and unsubstantiated allegations. The fight over the state’s voter rolls now looks certain to continue through the midterms and beyond, with Election Day just two weeks away.
