A new review of a federal list of suspected noncitizen voters in California has found thousands of possible errors. The findings raise fresh questions about the Trump administration’s efforts to challenge voter records before Election Day.
More than 42% of the names on the list could not be matched to people in California’s current voter records, according to a court filing submitted on Saturday. The review also found that some people listed as possible noncitizens are US citizens who have the legal right to vote.
Two data analysts from the University of California, Los Angeles, examined 20,930 names supplied by the US Department of Justice. The department had asked California election officials to separate ballots linked to these names during the vote count on Election Day.
The findings were submitted by the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, known as CHIRLA, and members of UCLA’s Voting Rights Project. The groups are challenging the government’s use of federal immigration data to question state voter records.
Their analysis found that 8,880 names, equal to about 42% of the list, did not match anyone in California’s current voter file. The researchers also found at least 22 people who were US citizens. They said many other names could belong to eligible voters.
The groups argue that the list could put lawful voters at risk. They say inaccurate records should not be used to challenge ballots or force election officials to take action without careful checks.
Xavier Becerra, a Democratic candidate for California governor and an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project, joined the court filing. The plaintiffs said the findings showed that the federal list could affect a large number of eligible voters.
Several judges have already rejected the administration’s demand to separate ballots linked to suspected noncitizens. The rulings raised concerns about the legality of the effort and the risk that eligible voters could be harmed.
The federal government had opposed sharing the list with the groups. Officials called the request a fishing expedition and said the records contained sensitive information. However, a federal judge ordered the administration on Friday to provide the list to the plaintiffs. This allowed the researchers to carry out a wider review.
Bill Essayli, the US attorney leading the federal case in Los Angeles, dismissed the findings on Saturday. He called the report false and criticized CHIRLA.
President Donald Trump also spoke out against the court rulings. In a social media post, he claimed that the Justice Department had found 20,000 potentially fraudulent votes. He said the number could reach hundreds of thousands or even millions, but the claims were not established by the analysis described in the filing.
The administration has also challenged voter records in Washington state. It urged officials to remove about 400 people it identified as possible noncitizens. State election officials questioned the list’s accuracy and said it included a person who had voted in the 1990s.
The Justice Department has warned California election officials that they could face criminal liability if noncitizens vote. It has also issued subpoenas to election offices as part of its efforts to investigate the matter.
Local officials say the federal government has sent lists close to Election Day, leaving little time to check each name. They argue that confirming a person’s identity and citizenship requires careful work and that mistakes could lead to eligible voters being wrongly removed from the rolls.
On Friday, a federal judge in California ordered the Justice Department to stop sending certain demands to state officials. The administration appealed the decision on Saturday. Several counties had already checked parts of the federal list and found many errors.
CHIRLA and the UCLA project filed a separate lawsuit in early October to challenge the use of federal immigration data in voter registration reviews. Their case points to problems in other states where government data wrongly identified thousands of citizens as possible noncitizens.
The UCLA researchers also found that nearly 7,500 naturalized citizens in California were highly likely to have been wrongly flagged under the government’s method. Naturalized citizens who meet legal requirements have the same right to vote as other US citizens.
The researchers raised another concern about missing voter identification numbers. They said the government appeared to have removed this key information, making it harder for election officials to confirm identities and identify duplicate entries.
The Justice Department maintains that its actions are meant to protect election integrity. Department spokesperson Kiersten V. Pels said the department would continue its efforts to protect lawful voting.
The dispute now focuses on the accuracy of the federal data and the risk of challenging eligible voters. Further court decisions will help determine how the administration can use the list and what safeguards may be needed to protect voters.
