DOJ noncitizen voters list includes US-born people
Archived — this story has rotated out of today’s deck. It is kept here in full.
The gist
Los Angeles County says a sample of the DOJ's 20,000-name voter list found nearly 40% indicated US birth.
The findings undercut the list behind a federal lawsuit against California before the election.
Background
The Department of Justice, the federal agency that compiled and sent the list, gave Los Angeles County and California's secretary of state a roster of roughly 20,000 people it says are "likely noncitizens" and demanded the state segregate their ballots unless citizenship could be verified. The list was assembled by the Department of Homeland Security, which has not explained how it matched voter data to citizenship records. After California refused, the DOJ sued the state, and Los Angeles County election officials responded in court with an analysis of a 200-person sample. The dispute is trending because it lands weeks before an election in a state with more than 23 million registered voters.
How it unfolded
- recentlyThe DOJ delivered a thumb drive with the roughly 20,000-name list to Los Angeles County; officials initially declined to open it, and the next day the DOJ emailed a spreadsheet with the same list.
- recentlyThe DOJ gave California 48 hours to segregate ballots of those named unless citizenship could be verified; after officials refused, the DOJ sued the state on Thursday.
- Oct 19, 2026Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter acknowledged at a Los Angeles news conference that the list likely included errors, saying "there may be some names on there who it turns out ultimately are citizens." The DOJ also announced criminal charges against 28 people on the list.
- Oct 20, 2026In a court filing, LA County election officials said a preliminary analysis of 200 people from the list found nearly 40% indicated they were born in the United States and 71.2% of the records had no voting history.
- Oct 20, 2026LA County Registrar Dean Logan said in a separate filing that of the 20,000 names, only 7,035 had addresses in Los Angeles County and some were duplicates. California state and local officials filed in court calling the litigation "a reckless political stunt" at best.
- Oct 21, 2026LA election officials' findings were reported, including that the list contains a "high percentage" of people born in the United States.
Who’s saying what
- Official
- Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said the department is "not perfect" and asked California to cooperate, calling the listed names the ones where officials are "most confident that they are noncitizens."
- Official
- DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels said California "cannot facilitate the violation of federal law" and accused the state of "willful blindness" for refusing to verify citizenship.
- Caution
- California state and local officials said in their court filing the litigation is "a reckless political stunt" at best and at worst "threatens to disenfranchise thousands of Californians this election."
- Analysts
- LA County's court filings report that 38.9% of records with meaningfully reported birthplace information indicated US birth, and that 71% had never voted.
Still unverified
LA County did not say that every US-born person in its sample is necessarily a citizen. The DOJ describes the list as people "likely" noncitizens, while local officials call it "unreliable."