DOJ subpoenas California election officials in noncitizen voting probe: ‘Threats and intimidation have no place in elections’

The Department of Justice has issued grand jury subpoenas to local election officials in California as part of a criminal investigation into the state’s voter rolls, according to ABC News. The move intensifies the Trump administration’s ongoing dispute with California over election administration, coming just days before the midterm elections.

Multiple sources familiar with the matter told the outlet that some employees at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office received subpoenas last week. The documents require them to testify before a grand jury on November 4, the day after Election Day.

The subpoenas also request internal documents and communications concerning the federal government’s requests to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber for information about alleged noncitizen voting. They seek records related to the county’s methods for identifying and preventing unlawful voting by noncitizens.

There is a dispute over alleged noncitizen voters

The investigation is part of the administration’s effort to substantiate its claims that thousands of noncitizens are registered to vote in California. Earlier this month, the DOJ also threatened criminal prosecution for election workers who knowingly count ballots cast by noncitizens.

In a letter to Los Angeles officials, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said that “noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime — and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful.” The subpoenas arrived amid a separate legal battle over roughly 20,000 ballots that the Trump administration has claimed may belong to noncitizens.

Earlier, a federal judge rejected the DOJ’s request for an emergency order requiring California to set those ballots aside while their eligibility was reviewed. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge David Carter criticized the federal government’s approach to state and local election officials. “Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional election procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch,” Carter wrote.

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan welcomed the judge’s criticism, saying the department had taken a confrontational approach throughout the dispute. He added that election officials were acting in accordance with state and federal law and that threats and intimidation had no place in elections.

Logan also said the county would take whatever steps were necessary to protect its employees while continuing to serve voters. The DOJ, meanwhile, declined to comment on reports of the subpoenas, saying it does not discuss leaked information about alleged grand jury proceedings.

However, a department spokesperson argued that the judge had acknowledged the criminal consequences of unlawful voting. The spokesperson also said California had recognized in its court filing that criminal prosecution is an appropriate remedy for noncitizen voting, while the DOJ maintains that civil remedies remain available.