Justice Dept. demands California prove citizenship for lists of voters or withhold ballots
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Set us as preferred The U.S.Department of Justice has ratcheted up its pressure campaign on California election officials to ferret out alleged voter fraud ahead of the Nov.
3 midterm election, demanding that officials statewide prove the U.S.citizenship of voters flagged by the federal government as potential noncitizens, or withhold or set aside their ballots.Acting Deputy Atty.
Gen.R.
Trent McCotter made the demand — which experts called highly questionable at a time when votes are already being cast — in letters to state elections officials Tuesday, including California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Dean Logan, head of the L.A.County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk’s office.
The letters, reviewed by The Times, call on the state officials to respond to the Justice Department within 48 hours.McCotter wrote that the Justice Department had provided Logan’s office with a “password-protected thumb drive with a list of names the Federal Government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent a vote-by-mail ballot” for the Nov.3 election.“We request that you review the list within 48 hours to determine whether any citizens are listed.
For individuals whom you cannot independently confirm citizenship status, we request that you immediately instruct the appropriate elections officials to segregate — not cancel — those individuals’ vote-by-mail ballots until their citizenship status can be determined,” McCotter wrote to both Weber and Logan.Voters on the federal list who haven’t already been sent a ballot should not be sent one until their citizenship is verified, while ballots already returned by voters on the list should not be counted until their citizenship is verified, McCotter wrote.Neither Weber’s office nor Logan’s office immediately responded to a request for comment Wednesday.
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