Count Citizens’ Votes: DOJ Gives California 48 Hours on Suspected Noncitizen Ballots

Written By TNT Staff, Posted on October 14, 2026

The Justice Department wants ballots from suspected noncitizens set aside until citizenship is checked. California calls it pressure. We call it the bare minimum.

The short answer: The U.S. Department of Justice has given California 48 hours to act on a federal list of people it believes are likely noncitizens who were sent mail-in ballots. If California refuses, the DOJ says it will go to court. The demand is simple: don’t send these people ballots, and don’t count the ones already returned until their citizenship is confirmed. It comes three weeks before the November 3 midterms.

What we know, and from whom

Readers should know where this story comes from. The letter was first described by Reuters as an “exclusive” based on “a letter reviewed by Reuters.” The full letter has not been published. Every other outlet carrying the details, from HuffPost to Just The News, is repeating Reuters’ account.

One fact is confirmed independently of Reuters’ description: the Associated Press also obtained the letter and reported the same 48-hour demand (AP). The Justice Department itself confirmed the letter exists. Spokeswoman Kiersten Pels said: “The department will take all necessary legal action to protect election integrity and ensure compliance with federal law” (Just The News; HNGN).

According to Reuters’ account, the letter was written by acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter and sent to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber. It reportedly says the DOJ gave Los Angeles County a “password-protected thumb drive” with the names of people the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens.” It reportedly demands three things:

• Stop: no ballots go to people on the list until their citizenship is confirmed.
• Segregate: ballots already sent to people on the list are “segregated” once they are returned.
• Hold: ballots already returned are not counted “until citizenship has been determined.”

If the state refuses, the letter says the government “will have no choice but to seek emergency relief.” It also states the principle plainly: “Allowing noncitizens to vote cancels citizen votes.”

Watch the framing

Reuters didn’t just report the letter. It also described it, calling the effort an “unprecedented effort to find evidence of voter fraud.” That wording suggests the DOJ is hunting for evidence it doesn’t have. But the DOJ says it has already identified specific names. Calling those people “alleged noncitizen voters,” as Reuters does, is fair. Implying there’s nothing to find is an editorial judgment, not a fact. Until the letter is released, readers should treat Reuters’ description of it with caution.

This isn’t hypothetical

The Justice Department’s own record shows noncitizen voting is not a myth:

• Oct 12: The DOJ announced charges against 16 individuals for illegal voting, fraudulent registration and related crimes, including voting by aliens in federal elections (DOJ).
• Oct 5: It announced a separate set of charges against 16 aliens for election crimes (DOJ).
• Sept 30: It announced that a federal grand jury had indicted ten noncitizens in Minnesota, one of whom allegedly voted as recently as the August 2026 primary (DOJ). “The law is clear, only American citizens may vote in American elections,” Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “That should not be a partisan concept” (DHS).

These are charges, not convictions. Every defendant is presumed innocent.

California’s side, in its own words

California hasn’t publicly responded to the letter yet. Reuters said the Secretary of State’s office did not immediately respond to its request for comment.

Weber’s position is on the record, though. In a July 17 statement, she called the President’s claims “fallacious” and said: “Non-citizen voting remains exceedingly rare.” She promised to “carefully review DHS’s methodology,” and said the White House’s information did “not inspire any level of confidence” (CA Secretary of State).

Fair enough. Then check the names. “Rare” is not the same as “zero,” and three months after promising to review the methodology, Sacramento now has a list to review.

The courts: a real setback for DOJ, but not on this question

Critics will point out that the DOJ has sued 30 states and Washington, D.C. to obtain full voter rolls, including sensitive data such as Social Security and driver’s licence numbers, and that courts have dismissed 26 of those cases. California’s was one of them. One state, Oklahoma, settled. These numbers come from independent legal trackers, not Reuters (Brennan Center; UW Law State Democracy Research Initiative).

The record is real, but it should be read carefully. Those rulings were about whether Washington can force states to hand over bulk voter data. They did not find that noncitizens never vote. This week’s demand is narrower: hold specific ballots until citizenship is confirmed, then count every valid one. No eligible citizen loses a vote. The only votes that lose out are ones that were never legal.

The bottom line

A free society rests on consent of the governed, and that means the governed are its citizens. Holding questionable ballots until eligibility is confirmed isn’t voter suppression. It’s what an honest election requires. Sacramento can check the names and count every lawful vote, or it can go to court and leave voters wondering what it doesn’t want checked. The Trump administration is right to settle this before November 3, not after.

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Sources

Primary sources
1. U.S. DOJ, “Justice Department Announces Charges Involving 16 Individuals for Election Crimes,” Oct 12, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-charges-involving-16-individuals-election-crimes
2. U.S. DOJ, “Justice Department Announces Charges Involving 16 Aliens for Election Crimes,” Oct 5, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-announces-charges-involving-16-aliens-election-crimes
3. U.S. DOJ, “Department of Justice Indicts Ten Aliens for Voter Fraud in Minnesota,” Sept 30, 2026: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/department-justice-indicts-ten-aliens-voter-fraud-minnesota
4. DHS, Mullin/Blanche press conference release, Oct 1, 2026: https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/10/01/secretary-mullin-and-attorney-general-blanche-hold-press-conference-recent-voter
5. California Secretary of State, press release PR26-104, July 17, 2026: https://www.sos.ca.gov/administration/news-releases-and-advisories/2026-news-releases-and-advisories/california-secretary-state-shirley-n-weber-phd-sets-record-straight-about-president-trumps-fallacious-election-fraud-claims

Lawsuit trackers (court records)
6. Brennan Center, DOJ voter-data request tracker: https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/tracker-justice-department-requests-voter-information
7. University of Wisconsin Law School, State Democracy Research Initiative, DOJ lawsuit tracker: https://statedemocracy.law.wisc.edu/our-work/tracker-doj-lawsuits-seeking-states-sensitive-voter-data

Reporting on the letter (AP obtained it independently; many others still track Reuters’ first account)
8. AP, “Justice Department threatens California with legal action over claim of noncitizens on voter rolls,” Oct 14, 2026: https://apnews.com/article/doj-california-elections-e08ec04efdb1110c0e3f815f2ce6a3db

Other reporting (often based on Reuters’ account; the full letter itself is unpublished)
9. Just The News, Oct 14, 2026: https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/elections/justice-department-demands-california-review-list-suspected-noncitizens
10. HNGN, Oct 14, 2026: https://www.hngn.com/articles/273508/20261014/doj-gives-california-48-hours-over-alleged-noncitizen-voter-list.htm
11. Reuters’ original report (syndicated text), cited only for its own wording and the attribution: https://www.streetinsider.com/Reuters/Exclusive-US+Justice+Department+threatens+California+over+alleged+noncitizen+voters%2C+letter+shows/27182451.html