Status as of October 25, 2026. Federal prosecutors have sent new letters to election officials in California counties, demanding rapid citizenship checks and asking them to set aside mail ballots linked to people the government suspects are noncitizens. The counties face a 48-hour response deadline. California disputes both the reliability of the federal voter list and the government's authority to change ballot handling during an election. No court finding has established that the roughly 20,000 people on the statewide list are noncitizens.

The letters, delivered on Friday, October 23, represent a new step in a dispute that began earlier in the month. According to Associated Press reporting based on a letter and county officials, at least 18 counties received demands to provide identifying records for voters flagged by federal investigators. Prosecutors also want ballots kept separate where citizenship cannot be verified. Officials in counties including Contra Costa, Santa Cruz and Napa described the requests as unusual and said they were consulting lawyers.

What is the government asking counties to do?

On October 13, the Justice Department gave California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County election chief Dean Logan a list of people it regarded as likely noncitizens and requested a review within 48 hours. It asked that mail ballots associated with people whose citizenship could not be confirmed be segregated, not cancelled, pending verification. The October 23 letters extended the pressure to individual county registrars and asked for information such as voter-registration records, identification and Social Security details.

The 48 hours are a deadline imposed by federal officials on election administrators, not a new deadline for individual voters to prove citizenship. The letters are requests and demands by the Justice Department, not a court order authorizing counties to reject the ballots. The department says it is seeking cooperation rather than a general purge of voter registrations.

Why are 20,000 voters being questioned?

On October 15, the Justice Department filed United States v. California, No. 2:26-cv-12025, alleging that federal immigration and citizenship-data checks identified more than 20,000 people on California voter rolls as likely noncitizens. The department argues that officials should prevent ballots cast by ineligible voters from being counted. Its public statement describes these as suspected cases; an allegation based on database matching is not an individual citizenship determination.

California and Los Angeles County challenge the quality of the list. In their October 24 appellate filings, state lawyers argue that the government has not supplied sufficient evidence of noncitizenship or explained its methodology. Los Angeles election officials reported that a preliminary review of 200 names found previously cancelled registrations, people with no voting history and records identifying some people as born in the United States. Those observations challenge the list's accuracy but do not determine the status of every listed person.

Will the ballots actually be set aside?

That remains disputed. California argues that ordinary election procedures and federal law govern voter eligibility and the processing of returned ballots. The Justice Department argues that counting a ballot from a person it believes to be ineligible would harm lawful voters. Those competing legal positions are before the courts; neither should be presented as an operative judicial ruling.

The Justice Department sought emergency relief from the federal district court and also asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to intervene before the district judge ruled. In case United States v. California, No. 26-7070, the Ninth Circuit scheduled a remote hearing for Sunday, October 25, at 1 p.m. Pacific. A separate district-court hearing is scheduled for October 27. As of this article's preparation, no new order resolving the October 23 county demands has been verified.

What does this mean for naturalized citizens?

U.S. citizens, including naturalized citizens, are eligible to vote if they satisfy applicable election rules. Noncitizens generally may not vote in federal elections. But some government databases can contain outdated citizenship records after naturalization or acquisition of citizenship; a match that flags someone as a possible noncitizen is not proof that the person is ineligible.

Being named on the federal list does not, by itself, revoke citizenship, invalidate naturalization or create a new immigration proceeding. Anyone concerned about their registration or ballot should use their county election office's official voter-status tools and keep copies of relevant notices; the legal effect of a particular challenge depends on the facts and any subsequent court order.

The case is distinct from two stories Factum Immigration has already covered: the October 9 ruling invalidating a separate DOJ voter-list policy, and the October 21 order restricting certain DHS field investigations in nine states. Neither ruling alone determines the outcome of the new California ballot dispute.

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