On Wednesday, October 28, 2026 U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied the application from the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) demanding that the Court order the State of California to set aside over 20,000 vote-by-mail ballots in the November 3 federal election, based on a list of over 20,000 names that the DOJ claimed were likely noncitizens, until each name’s citizenship status could be checked.
That DOJ request was sent on October 13, 2026 – eight days after ballots had been sent to every registered voter in the state of California.
The request arrived via a letter and password-protected thumb drive that were hand-delivered to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters (ROV). The password for the thumb drive was attached to the drive via sticky-note. The letter instructed the County to “review the entire list within 48 hours to determine whether any citizens were listed.
California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber was emailed the same request, also with a 48-hour deadline, but no list was provided.
The LA ROV wisely did not insert the thumb drive into any government computer. However, a safe way was found to review the list, and the LA ROV's office found that the list of over 20,000 names was not just for Los Angeles County. Instead, it contained addresses from throughout California.
The County’s review of the list found that only 7,035 out of more than 20,000 records had addresses in LA County. A sample of 200 of those records found that 42.9% were cancelled, 4.6% were inactive, and 42.4% were active. Also, 71.2% of the list had never voted in past elections. The LA County ROV also stated that the DOJ’s instructions were “legally prohibited” because the DOJ failed to provide any information or evidence for why those people were “likely noncitizens.”
On October 15, 2026, the DOJ filed a lawsuit request against:
- Shirley N. Weber in her official capacity as the California Secretary of State, and
- Sean C. Logan, in his official capacity as the County of Los Angeles ROV
The U.S. requested that the Court issue a temporary restraining order by November 3 (election day) to set aside all vote-by-mail ballots ‘from the likely noncitizens’ on the list, until the voters' citizenship status could be determined.
On October 28, 2026 Judge Carter denied the request for a temporary restraining order.
The DOJ has appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judge Carter’s opinion provides a very readable account of the full history of events and his reasoning for his ruling. The full document can be found HERE.