Trump’s Administration Files Lawsuit in California Over Voter Citizenship Verification

On Thursday, the Trump administration filed a lawsuit against California and Los Angeles County, seeking to prevent elections officials from counting ballots from potentially 20,000 registered voters. This legal maneuver comes just 19 days prior to a crucial national election.

The U.S. Justice Department sent letters to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and LA County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan, requesting verification of the citizenship status of specific voters. If officials do not comply within 48 hours, they would be directed to discard the ballots of those voters in the upcoming election.

California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the lawsuit as a politically motivated effort to hinder voter participation and highlighted that the request contradicts federal law, which prohibits voter roll purges within 90 days of an election.