Justice Department sues California over noncitizens getting ballots

Read the original at CBS News ↗
Cite

Lynch, S. N. (2026, October 15). Justice Department sues California over noncitizens getting ballots. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-department-california-lawsuit-mail-ballots-noncitizens/

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

CBS News · collected 2026-10-15 · by Sarah N. Lynch

Quick Summary

The Justice Department sued California on Thursday over allegations that more than 20,000 noncitizens are registered to vote illegally in the state. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter had earlier sent a letter and thumb drive containing names of suspected noncitizens to Los Angeles County officials, demanding they review the list within two days. However, Dean Logan, registrar-recorder and clerk for Los Angeles County, refused to do so, citing data privacy concerns. Secretary of State Shirley Weber criticized the Trump administration's claims as unsubstantiated and lacking evidence. The lawsuit aims to prevent California from counting vote-by-mail ballots until citizenship status is verified.
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 US Justice Department sued California in federal court, alleging that more than 20,000 noncitizens were unlawfully registered to vote. This follows a letter from Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter on October 14, which demanded California officials review a list of suspected noncitizens who had received mail-in ballots for the upcoming midterm elections within 48 hours. The Justice Department sent Los Angeles County a password-protected thumb drive containing the names compiled by the Department of Homeland Security. However, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and LA County Clerk Dean Logan refused to comply due to security concerns and lack of details on how the list was created.

Written for “Justice Department Sues California Over Noncitizen Voting” on 2026-10-15, grounded in this article and the 5 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted verbatim and was checked against the article text before being stored, so you can find it in the original.
Reading Leans strongly right (beta estimate) Confidence high
Leaning: leans strongly right for article 83229 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-10-15

Story

📰 Justice Department Sues California Over Noncitizen Voting
Politics · 6 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly right and hedges 11% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Guardian · 0.92 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 13% hedged 3 of 23 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles describe the US Department of Justice filing a lawsuit against California on the same day, October 15, 2026, regarding alleged noncitizen voting.”
New York Post · 0.88 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans right further left than this 🔴 21% hedged 4 of 19 📰 publisher trust 67
“Both articles describe the Justice Department filing a lawsuit against California on the same day, October 15, 2026, over more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens registered to vote.”
Toronto Star · 0.88 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 2 📰 publisher trust 63
“Both articles describe the Justice Department taking legal action against California over noncitizens receiving ballots, with the second article detailing a lawsuit filed in court following an earlier threat.”
NBC News · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 12% hedged 3 of 26 📰 publisher trust 95
“Article A describes a threat of legal action and demand for review, while Article B reports on an actual lawsuit filed in court.”
Fox News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 19% hedged 5 of 27 📰 publisher trust 68
“Article A covers a nationwide crackdown across multiple states, while Article B specifically discusses the Justice Department suing California over noncitizen voter registration.”
New York Post
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 24% hedged 4 of 17 📰 publisher trust 67
“While both articles discuss issues related to voting fraud and actions taken by the Justice Department against California, Article A does not specify a particular lawsuit or incident, while Article B describes a specific legal action filed on a particular day.”
New York Post
⚖️ Leans strongly right 🔴 12% hedged 4 of 32 📰 publisher trust 67
“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.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
19
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
11%
2 of 19 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
66/100
CBS News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
6
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

CBS News · 2955 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Sarah N. Lynch
23 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 "If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated laws that protect our nation's representative system of government.
🔮 The Justice Department said on Friday it will no longer enforce certain provisions of a 1934 law that was passed by Congress to regulate the types of firearms often used by mobsters, after a federal judge declared large parts of the law were unconstitutional.
🔮 Federal prosecutors have been presenting evidence to a grand jury in Washington, D.C., on whether former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson may have lied to Congress in her testimony related to the on the U.S. Capitol, two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News.
🔮 CBS News could not determine the status of the investigation, which remained open as recently as this summer, one of the sources said.
🔮 Federal prosecutors are expected to bring new charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, for allegedly torturing Americans who were held in Venezuelan prisons, according to multiple sources familiar with the case.
🔮 Bureau of Prisons Director William Marshall terminated the collective bargaining agreement on Sept. 25, 2025.
🔮 "Anything less than a full and fair review would be a betrayal of your mission and perpetuate the outrageous mistreatment of Mr. Hearn." Hearn was initially detained in jail for five hours on June 19, after he stopped by the Reflecting Pool during a bike ride.
🔮 It is unclear how many other alleged hackers may be involved, a U.S. source told CBS News.
🔮 Katie Miller could not immediately be reached for comment.
🔮 "We have a right, just like every litigant in court, to have a judge that will be fair and impartial," Blanche said.
Also by Sarah N. Lynch
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 23 articles by Sarah N. Lynch →

Topics

California Los Angeles County The Justice Department Washington the Department of Homeland Security

Subjects

California GPE · 5× The Justice Department ORG · 4× Los Angeles County GPE · 2× McCotter PERSON · 2× the Department of Homeland Security ORG · 2× District Court ORG · 1× Trent McCotter PERSON · 1× U.S. GPE · 1× Washington GPE · 1× the Central District of California GPE · 1×

Narrative

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, came after Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter to counties earlier this week, including Los Angeles, ordering them to review a list of names of suspected noncitizens who he alleged received mail-in ballots for the upcoming midterm elections.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-15
🔮 "If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated laws that protect our nation's representative system of government.
2026-10-15 · CBS News
Justice Department sues California over noncitizens getting ballots · assertive framing

Claims (19 extracted, 2 hedged)

The Justice Department sued California on Thursday, alleging that the federal government has identified more than 20,000 noncitizens who are unlawfully registered to vote. asserted
who → sue → noncitizens
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, came after Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter to counties earlier this week, including Los Angeles, ordering them to review a list of names of suspected noncitizens who he alleged received mail-in ballots for the upcoming midterm elections. asserted
he → file → elections
"State-facilitated voter fraud is unacceptable in the United States of America," Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. asserted
Blanche → facilitate → lawsuit
"If found responsible in a court of law, the State of California will have seriously undermined confidence in our electoral system and violated laws that protect our nation's representative system of government. asserted
that → find → government
In the letter that McCotter sent to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, he enclosed a password-protected thumb drive that he said contained names compiled by the Department of Homeland Security, and imposed a 48-hour deadline for the clerk's office to review the list. asserted
office → send → list
Dean Logan, the registrar-recorder and clerk, said in a statement responding to McCotter's demands that the county would not be reviewing the materials on the thumb drive because doing so would conflict with "established data privacy and information security protocols." asserted
doing → say → protocols
He said the device was not considered a "secure medium." asserted
device → say → ?
Secretary of State Shirley Weber, meanwhile, said the Justice Department had not provided the list of names and blasted the Trump administration for what it said were "unsubstantiated claims" that California had 190,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls. uncertain
California → say → rolls
In Thursday's lawsuit, the Justice Department accused the state of failing to work with the federal government to correct the alleged problems with its voter rolls. asserted
Department → accuse → rolls
"The Federal Government asked California to work collaboratively to identify any noncitizens registered to vote in the State. asserted
Government → ask → State
California made no serious effort to do so," the lawsuit said. asserted
lawsuit → make → effort
"The United States thus seeks commonplace election relief when a ballot is called into question. asserted
ballot → seek → question
This Court should enjoin California from presently tabulating vote-by-mail ballots from likely noncitizens in the upcoming federal election until the voter's citizenship status can be determined," it added. asserted
it → enjoin → election
CBS News has reached out to the secretary of state and the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk for comment. asserted
News → reach → comment
The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has filed 31 lawsuits in an effort to force states to hand over unredacted copies of their voter rolls. asserted
Division → file → rolls
The division has said it wants to ensure states are keeping clean voter lists, but it has since acknowledged that it also intends to share the data with the Department of Homeland Security so that the lists can be screened for noncitizens. asserted
lists → say → noncitizens
Harmeet Dhillon, the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, sent letters to all 50 states in July threatening to take criminal action if they knowingly allowed noncitizens to remain on their voter rolls. asserted
noncitizens → send → rolls
So far, the Justice Department has lost 26 of those cases, and has not achieved one legal victory to date. asserted
Department → lose → date
It has resorted to using publicly available voter lists and other investigative means to try to identify noncitizens who may be registered in those states. uncertain
who → resort → states
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