Justice Department warns Los Angeles election officials they could face charges over noncitizen ballots

The U.S. Justice Department has warned Los Angeles election officials that workers who knowingly count ballots cast by people federal agencies identify as noncitizens could be treated as accomplices to a federal crime, ABC News reported late Friday, Oct. 16.

"If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime," Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter wrote in a letter to Los Angeles officials, according to ABC.

"Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime--and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful," McCotter wrote.

President Donald Trump reposted the letter on social media. In a follow-up post, he wrote, "They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!" ABC reported.

GROKsiNEWS.com has not seen the full letter; its text here comes from ABC's reporting.

How it got here

The letter came one day after the Justice Department sued California, claiming the state has refused to remove noncitizens from its voter rolls. The department said it had determined, working with the Department of Homeland Security, that more than 20,000 people who are "likely aliens" are registered to vote in California. Those claims are allegations that have not been tested in court, and the state disputes them.

Earlier in the week, McCotter sent letters to the Los Angeles County clerk and California's secretary of state asking them to open a password-protected thumb drive that the department said held thousands of names of possible noncitizens on the state's voter list, ABC reported. The letters gave officials two days to confirm they were reviewing the names and setting aside any ballots returned by people on the list.

California's response

California called the request legally baseless and a last-ditch attempt to interfere in its election, ABC reported.

Dean Logan, who heads the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office, refused to open the thumb drive, saying doing so would break security protocols, the Los Angeles Times reported. The department then sent a spreadsheet of about 20,000 names that appeared to include voters from across the state, not just Los Angeles County, the Times reported. "We cannot withhold or refuse to count ballots based solely on unverified allegations, nor can we disregard the legal requirements governing our election -- and we certainly have no authority to act on records that are outside of our jurisdiction," Logan said, according to the Times.

"The USDOJ's relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states' protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections," California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said, according to ABC.

Why it matters

The threat targets local election workers about two and a half weeks before the Nov. 3 election. Federal officials have issued similar warnings before. Over the summer, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said election officials could face fines, penalties "and even depending on how far it goes, prison time," ABC reported.

The Justice Department has publicized dozens of recent arrests of people accused of voting as noncitizens in past elections. ABC noted that even those cases fall far short of numbers that could change election outcomes.

Sean Morales Doyle of the Brennan Center for Justice told ABC the administration appears to be "laying the groundwork to challenge results after Election Day". The Los Angeles Times described the dispute as marked by "big assertions" and "little clarity".