DOJ sues California over voter rolls as county questions federal list

The Justice Department's case began with a deadline. On October 14, the Trump administration demanded that California election officials investigate a list of potentially ineligible voters within 48 hours or face emergency court action, according to Axios. It also wanted officials to set aside ballots from people whose citizenship they could not verify.

The demand involved comparing voter rolls with information supplied by the Department of Homeland Security on a USB drive, The Hill reported. The dispute quickly became about both the government's allegations and how election officials were expected to check them.

On October 15, the administration sued California and two election officials over suspected ineligible voters who had received mail ballots, according to Axios. The lawsuit sought to temporarily block counting mail ballots from voters the government considered likely noncitizens, The New York Times reported.

That day, ABCNews.com reported that the Los Angeles County clerk would refuse to access the thumb drive containing the names. Connecting it would violate established data privacy and information security protocols, the clerk said, according to Technology.

On October 16, the dispute widened to possible criminal liability for election workers. The administration warned local officials of possible prosecution for processing and tabulating ballots submitted by suspected noncitizens, Associated Press reported.

On October 19, the Justice Department charged 28 people in California with unlawful voting and other election-related offenses, according to ABC News. The department also filed an emergency request in federal court to stop California from processing ballots returned by people it described as likely noncitizens, NPR News reported.

By October 21, county officials were publicly challenging the federal list. A preliminary Los Angeles County analysis found that some people listed as likely noncitizens appeared to be US-born, and officials described the list as unreliable, according to NPR News.

The central disagreement is whether the federal list reliably identifies ineligible voters. Los Angeles officials said it included a high percentage of people who reported being born in the United States, ABCNews.com reported. That finding challenges the list's accuracy, but the coverage describes the county's analysis as preliminary.

Most reports put the disputed list at roughly 20,000 people, including NPR News. One October 17 report from The Hill instead referred to more than 200,000. The supplied coverage does not explain that discrepancy.

The criminal cases are another part of the escalating dispute, not a court finding that the broader list is accurate. The 28 people face charges, according to ABC News. The supplied coverage reports the administration's requests to restrict ballot processing and counting, but does not establish a court ruling on those requests.

The immediate issue is how the federal court handles the emergency request to stop processing disputed ballots, reported by NPR News. The lawsuit also seeks a temporary restriction on counting mail ballots, according to The New York Times, with the November midterm elections approaching.

The county's continuing examination of the list is another key development. Its preliminary findings, reported by NPR News, leave open how many listed voters are actually ineligible. Whether the department follows its warnings with prosecutions of election workers also remains unresolved in the supplied coverage.