Santa Clara County will not turn over confidential information on 902 local voters or set aside their ballots, county leaders told the U.S. Justice Department in letters dated Monday, Oct. 26, rejecting a federal demand built on claims that those voters may not be citizens.
The demand came in an Oct. 23 letter from U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian to Registrar of Voters Matt Moreles. It gave the county 48 hours to hand over information on the 902 people, whom the Department of Homeland Security alleges are noncitizens, and asked the registrar to segregate their ballots and stop processing them "until their citizenship status can be determined," San Jose Inside reported.
Missakian also warned Moreles he could face criminal prosecution if he did not comply. He said the list came from a multiagency DHS investigation using immigration records and data matching.
The county's answer
County Executive James Williams wrote that the county cannot comply with what he called an "illegal request" and described the threats against election staff as "wholly inappropriate," according to San Jose Inside. County Counsel Tony LoPresti wrote that the county reserves the right to pursue legal action against the department over what the county calls intimidation of election officials and voters.
The county called the underlying data deeply flawed and the allegations unsubstantiated. County officials also cited a review of Los Angeles County names from the same federal effort, which found fewer than half had active registrations, nearly three-quarters had never voted, and more than a third of those with a recorded birthplace were born in the United States.
The 902 names appear to be part of a statewide list of about 20,000 voters that the department had earlier demanded counties review. Los Angeles County, which received a list of more than 7,000 names, also refused.
In court this week
The federal government has sued California to force the issue. On Monday, a Ninth Circuit panel voted 2-1 to send the case back to the trial court without granting the administration's emergency request.