California officials won’t open DOJ drive with alleged noncitizen voter records — here’s their excuse

Read the original at New York Post ↗
Cite

Hoge, R. (2026, October 15). California officials won’t open DOJ drive with alleged noncitizen voter records — here’s their excuse. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/14/opinion/california-wont-open-non-citizen-voter-list-heres-their-excuse/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-10-15 · by Roxanne Hoge

Quick Summary

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has refused a request from the Trump administration to investigate alleged noncitizen voters using data provided on a secure flash drive from the Department of Justice. In response to criticism, Bonta called the request "desperate and embarrassing." Dean Logan, LA County's registrar-recorder, cited data privacy concerns as reasons for not accessing the drive. The article criticizes California’s lax voter registration practices and questions the state’s commitment to election integrity while highlighting perceived hypocrisy regarding how other nations manage elections efficiently.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-15, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

As of October 15, 2026, the Justice Department sued California in federal court over allegations that over 20,000 noncitizens were unlawfully registered to vote and received mail ballots for the upcoming midterm elections. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter had previously given state officials a 48-hour deadline to review a list of suspected noncitizens provided via a password-protected thumb drive but California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan refused to comply, citing security concerns and insufficient time. The lawsuit argues that allowing noncitizens to vote undermines confidence in the electoral system and violates federal laws protecting U.S. elections.

Written for “Justice Department Sues California Over Voter Rolls” on 2026-10-16, grounded in this article and the 6 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Justice Department Sues California Over Voter Rolls
Politics · 7 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly right and hedges 12% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Toronto Star
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 2 📰 publisher trust 63
“Both articles discuss the Justice Department's threat to take legal action against California over alleged noncitizens receiving mail ballots, including a mention of a thumb drive with names provided to Los Angeles County.”
Fox News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 19% hedged 5 of 27 📰 publisher trust 67
“Article A covers a nationwide DOJ crackdown in multiple states, while Article B focuses specifically on California's response to the DOJ request for noncitizen voter records.”
NBC News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 12% hedged 3 of 26 📰 publisher trust 95
“Both articles discuss the Justice Department's threat of legal action against California over alleged noncitizen voters and the initial reaction from California officials.”
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 2 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A discusses California officials refusing to comply with a DOJ request, while Article B reports on the DOJ suing California for failing to provide voter information. These describe different stages of an ongoing issue.”
New York Post
⚖️ Leans right further left than this 🔴 21% hedged 4 of 19 📰 publisher trust 67
“While both articles discuss the Trump administration's actions regarding suspected noncitizen voters in California, they describe different stages of the event: Article A focuses on the initial refusal by California officials to comply with the DOJ request, while Article B reports on the subsequent lawsuit filed against California.”
The Guardian
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 13% hedged 3 of 23 📰 publisher trust 68
“Article A discusses California officials' refusal to comply with a DOJ request, while Article B reports on the DOJ suing California over alleged noncitizen voting, which appears to be a subsequent legal action rather than the same specific incident.”
CBS News
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 11% hedged 2 of 19 📰 publisher trust 66
“Article A discusses California officials' refusal to comply with a request from the Trump administration, while Article B describes a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department against California over noncitizen voting. These appear to be related but distinct events.”
New York Post
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 24% hedged 4 of 17 📰 publisher trust 67
“Article A discusses a refusal to open DOJ drive with noncitizen voter records, while Article B provides a broader critique of California's election system and mentions federal investigations but does not specify the same specific incident.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
32
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
12%
4 of 32 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
67/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
7
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-15 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 10786 article(s) · 30 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 30 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Roxanne Hoge
1 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 I find it embarrassing that this administration would engage in such conduct during an election.”
The only article under this byline in the corpus.

Topics

Angelenos California Jamaica LA County the US Department of Justice

Subjects

California GPE · 6× Dean Logan PERSON · 2× Jamaica GPE · 2× Rob PERSON · 2× the Department of Justice ORG · 2× Angelenos NORP · 1× LA County GPE · 1× Rob Bonta PERSON · 1× Trump PERSON · 1× the US Department of Justice ORG · 1×

Narrative

I also find it desperate to act as if a targeted, time-sensitive request, which is tied to specific ballots already in the pipeline under our universal mail-in voting system, is somehow akin to the Spanish Inquisition.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-15
🔮 I find it embarrassing that this administration would engage in such conduct during an election.”

Claims (32 extracted, 4 hedged)

It’s not a tough call. asserted
It → ’ → ?
LA County and other California jurisdictions should comply with the Trump administration’s reasonable request to investigate noncitizens on the local voter rolls. asserted
County → comply → rolls
But California Attorney General Rob Bonta disagrees. asserted
Bonta → disagree → ?
He had this to say: “I find it desperate. asserted
it → have → say
I find it embarrassing that this administration would engage in such conduct during an election.” asserted
administration → find → election
Sign up for the California Morning Report newsletter The biggest news, opinion and culture shaping California right now. Thanks for signing up! asserted
Sign → sign → California
Well, this immigrant-turned-naturalized citizen has thoughts as well. asserted
immigrant → turn → thoughts
I found it embarrassing that no one ever wanted me to prove who I was in the good old days when Angelenos still voted in neighborhood polling places. asserted
Angelenos → find → places
I find it rather desperate to claim that, although noncitizen voting is a crime, California — home to Silicon Valley and allegedly filled with top thinkers in every field — insists state and local officials can’t open a secure thumb drive with a list of alleged noncitizen voters. uncertain
officials → find → voters
I find it infuriating that the county of my birth, the island nation of Jamaica, is called “Third World” when it is capable of running elections quickly and efficiently. asserted
it → find → elections
Jamaica also uses indelible ink and voter ID to ensure that no one is double-dipping into the electorate. asserted
one → use → electorate
(Maybe Rob doesn’t know that an estimated 90 counties have used this method. asserted
counties → know → method
I also find it desperate to act as if a targeted, time-sensitive request, which is tied to specific ballots already in the pipeline under our universal mail-in voting system, is somehow akin to the Spanish Inquisition. asserted
which → find → Inquisition
The LA registrar-recorder, Dean Logan, also issued a statement, saying, “We have not accessed the drive because doing so would conflict with established data privacy and information security protocols. asserted
doing → issue → protocols
We do not consider the device a secure medium. … asserted
device → consider → ?
[A]ny action to remove a voter from eligibility must be based on verifiable information, not assertions of unconfirmed data matching. uncertain
action → remove → matching
Our voter rolls are the fruit of a poisoned tree that starts with giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, then turns the Department of Motor Vehicles into a machine for automatic voter registration. asserted
that → start → registration
The risks are compounded by turning government assistance programs — Medi-Cal, CalFresh, CalWORKs, WIC, General Assistance, and Covered California — into designated voter registration agencies. asserted
risks → compound → agencies
We hand out voter registrations like lollipops at the pediatrician’s office. asserted
We → hand → office
It’s also hard to take claims about “verifiable information and data privacy” seriously when they come from officials in a state that has tolerated data breaches and widespread fraud. uncertain
that → ’ → breaches
I’m all for safe and secure elections, and as chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, this is extra personal to me. asserted
this → ’m → me
It’s why I wrote an open letter to Attorney General Bonta, explaining that the mere appearance of shenanigans undermines democracy for all of us. asserted
appearance → ’ → us
Real investigations — even, and especially, those that reveal there is no problem — is the way to encourage confidence in the system, and voter participation. asserted
that → reveal → system
It’s also why I enumerated several irregularities from our recent primary in a letter I sent to the Department of Justice asking for election monitors for this election. asserted
I → ’ → election
People tell me every week that they receive excess ballots, thanks to California’s universal vote-by-mail system. asserted
they → tell → system
California officials claim that excess ballots are very rare. uncertain
ballots → claim → ?
(I always tell voters the same thing — to go directly to the registrar to correct the error.) asserted
I → tell → error
I am glad that the Department of Justice wants to clean our voter rolls. asserted
Department → want → rolls
Dean Logan should open the drive, perform the review, and hold the questionable ballots as requested. asserted
Logan → open → ballots
That would affirm the integrity of our elections. asserted
That → affirm → elections
Who wouldn’t want that? asserted
Who → want → that
You can find her on X at @RoxanneHoge. asserted
You → find → @RoxanneHoge
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