Justice Department says 20,000 noncitizens got California mail ballots

Key Points:

• Federal investigators have identified 20,000 individuals on California's voter rolls as likely noncitizens who received mail ballots, prompting a lawsuit seeking to prevent their ballots from being counted.
• The Department of Justice (DOJ) is pushing for an emergency court order to sequester these ballots, arguing that illegal voting is occurring in real time as ballots are being returned and processed.
• California officials dispute the DOJ's claims, citing lack of authority and access to verify citizenship status, and highlight logistical challenges in separating ballots after signature verification.
• The DOJ accuses California of lax voter verification and urges the state to provide additional identifying information to expedite citizenship verification, but California has resisted sharing sensitive voter data, leading to ongoing litigation.
• The dispute underscores broader tensions over election integrity, with DOJ officials emphasizing that even a single illegal vote undermines the democratic process, while California questions the accuracy and methodology of the DOJ's noncitizen voter list.