California election workers now face a federal warning before ballots are counted

The people who count California’s ballots have been told they could face a criminal investigation. That warning arrived weeks before a midterm election, and it lands on workers who are supposed to run a calm, careful process.

The Justice Department sent a letter to California officials warning that local workers who knowingly process or tabulate ballots submitted by suspected noncitizen voters risk investigation and possible prosecution. The letter came from Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter and was addressed to Los Angeles County counsel, with copies to Secretary of State Shirley Weber and county Registrar Dean Logan. The Associated Press obtained the letter.

The language is blunt. It says that if people knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.

I read that and thought about the practical position it creates. An election worker receives a list of people the federal government calls “likely” noncitizens. The worker may not have proof that any person on it is ineligible. The worker may know that a mistake can remove a lawful voter’s ballot from the count. Now the federal government says processing those ballots could carry criminal risk.

That is a hard place to put someone.

What the government says

The Justice Department says it gave California a list of more than 20,000 people it believes are likely noncitizens and were sent mail ballots for the November 3 election. It asked the state to review the list within 48 hours, segregate returned ballots from people whose citizenship could not be verified, and stop sending ballots to people on the list until their status was confirmed.

California did not do what the department asked. The Justice Department then sued California and Los Angeles County, asking a federal court to stop the state from counting mail ballots from people on the list until their citizenship can be confirmed.

The department’s position is that noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime, and that knowingly helping it is unlawful too. On Monday, it announced charges against 28 people in California for alleged election-related crimes, including unlawful voting and false claims of citizenship. Federal officials said 11 of those people had been arrested.

Those are serious allegations, and they deserve serious treatment. If someone voted illegally, the law should apply. But the charges against 28 people do not settle the separate question of what the state should do with a list of 20,000 voters described only as “likely” noncitizens.

What California says

California officials have pushed back. They say the federal government did not provide enough evidence to verify the list, that similar claims have been inaccurate elsewhere, and that the demand came too close to the election.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber has said the state did not receive enough information to verify the list. State officials also say California has safeguards intended to keep noncitizens from registering to vote.

That dispute matters because the remedy is not abstract. Segregating ballots means setting aside votes before anyone knows whether the voters are eligible. If the list contains errors, lawful citizens could have their ballots held aside in the final days of an election.

There is a real tension here. The federal government says counting an ineligible ballot cannot be undone once it is mixed with valid votes. California’s concern is the opposite: removing or delaying a valid ballot also cannot be undone easily, especially when the evidence behind the list is disputed.

Both concerns are legitimate. That is exactly why the timing and the threat of prosecution worry me.

What remains unknown

We do not yet know how a court will rule. We do not know whether the federal list is accurate, how many people on it are actually noncitizens, or whether any ballots from people on it have already been counted. We also do not know whether the Justice Department will bring charges against election workers.

The department has said it will not prejudge or pre-announce a criminal case. But its public warnings have already made the possibility explicit.

That uncertainty can do damage even before anything is decided. Election officials may hesitate. Local offices may need legal guidance before taking routine steps. Workers may fear that a normal decision will later be described as criminal conduct.

Elections depend on people willing to do detailed, unglamorous work: checking registrations, processing mail ballots, reconciling records, and counting under observation. If those workers believe a federal agency may treat their judgment as a crime, the cost will not fall only on them. It will fall on voters who need the process to work.

Why this should concern everyone

This fight is happening in California, but the question is national. Can federal officials demand that states set aside ballots based on a list of suspected, rather than confirmed, ineligible voters? And can they warn local workers of prosecution while that question is still unresolved?

I do not think the answer should be decided by pressure, deadlines, or fear. It should be decided by evidence, law, and a court able to examine both sides.

Noncitizen voting is illegal, and states have an obligation to prevent it. But eligible voters also have a right not to have their ballots treated as suspect because their names appear on a disputed list. Protecting one without harming the other is the whole job.

The people counting ballots should not have to guess which mistake will be punished. They need clear rules, verified information, and enough time to follow them. With Election Day close, California and the Justice Department are running short on all three.

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