Sen. Thom Tillis accuses California of ballot harvesting just weeks before the election, and calls the state system ‘ripe for abuse’

North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said Sunday that California has been guilty of ballot harvesting. Speaking on the CBS program Face the Nation, he told host Margaret Brennan that the state has a policy allowing the practice. Tillis added that California maintains a system that is ripe for abuse and should be examined more closely.

Brennan asked Tillis about the Department of Justice’s legal fight with California over possible noncitizens appearing on the state’s voter rolls. She noted the department’s warning that officials could face consequences if mail-in ballots continue to go out. Brennan also brought up a separate Justice Department lawsuit against Alaska and a federal investigation into Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar.

Brennan asked whether these actions formed a pattern and if Tillis was comfortable with them taking place so close to the election. Tillis said the situations needed careful handling and should be looked at one by one. He then turned his attention to California and described its approach to ballots as a policy that creates risks.

Justice Department asks appeals court to pause counting of flagged California ballots

The Department of Justice sued California earlier this month. Officials had given state leaders 48 hours to set aside the ballots of 20,000 people identified as potential noncitizens so the ballots could be turned over to the Department of Homeland Security. The department had already warned that California officials might face legal action if they did not follow the request.

President Trump claimed the officials “will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!” The department reportedly sent letters to every county in California asking local officials to identify potential noncitizens on their voter rolls. Bill Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Southern California, described that step as simple.

The letters included a list of people federal officials said the agency had identified as possible noncitizens. Those individuals may receive ballots under California’s practice of sending one to every registered voter in the state. Essayli wrote on social media that California does not verify citizenship status and that federal officials had already done the review for the state.

“We obtained the registered voter list and told them who we believe are noncitizens on their rolls,” Essayli stated. He added that knowingly processing noncitizen ballots is a federal crime under 18 U.S.C. §§ 611 and 2. “We will hold election officials accountable. No one is above the law,” he wrote.

Last Thursday, the Department of Justice asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to step in. The department requested a temporary order that would block California from counting the ballots in question.

The request came days after 28 people accused of not being U.S. citizens were charged in connection with illegally registered votes. The department said these 28 people were among the 20,000 noncitizens it had identified.

California Governor Gavin Newsom responded by accusing President Trump of “trying to quite literally rig the election.” At a campaign rally, Newsom said the president is trying to get the state’s voter rolls. “You can’t make this stuff up,” he stated. Trump has previously made similar claims as he accused Democrats of cheating in California’s primaries.

Tillis had told Brennan, “Well, I think we have to be careful. First, you’ve got to take them separately. California has been guilty of ballot harvesting. They have a policy to do it. They have a system there that is ripe for abuse and they need to be looked at.”