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Orange County election officials are reviewing a request from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to verify the citizenship status of 1,754 individuals.
On Monday, Bob Page, the Orange County Registrar of Voters, confirmed that two federal agents delivered a letter and a data storage drive to his office. This delivery followed an earlier, misplaced delivery to Hugh Nguyen, the Orange County Clerk-Recorder, who does not oversee elections.
Page stated, "County Counsel is evaluating the requests in the USDOJ letter and federal and state law. I plan to provide a response by Wednesday’s deadline." The DOJ's letter, similar to one previously sent to Nguyen, asked for assistance in determining the citizenship status of the individuals identified as "likely aliens" within 48 hours. The DOJ also requested that election officials "segregate—not cancel—those individuals’ vote-by-mail ballots until their citizenship status can be determined," according to The Orange County Register.
The letter and USB drive were initially sent to Nguyen, who retained the drive securely pending further DOJ instructions. Page noted that the deadline set by the DOJ is not enforceable and expressed uncertainty about the reliability of the DOJ's list for Orange County. "We haven’t had a chance to look at it," he said.
The situation is part of a broader legal battle between California and President Donald Trump's administration over noncitizen voting. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal recently declined to rule on whether California officials can count approximately 20,000 ballots allegedly belonging to noncitizens, setting up a legal showdown in U.S. District Court on Tuesday (October 27).
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber has stated that complying with the DOJ's demands would violate both federal and state election laws. "California’s election administration is fully compliant with federal election law and will continue to be governed by applicable federal and state law, not by unsubstantiated claims and outrageous demands," she said.
The DOJ's request has been sent to multiple counties across California, including San Bernardino and Los Angeles, as part of an effort to address concerns about noncitizen voting ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. However, data shows that illegal voting by noncitizens is extremely rare and difficult to prove.