California Dems Seethe Over Trump’s Voter Roll Attack

SACRAMENTO, California — California Democrats forcefully rejected the Department of Homeland Security’s claim that 190,832 noncitizens are registered to vote in the state, arguing the administration offered no evidence to back up the explosive allegation.

Trump’s “latest election conspiracy is nothing but a political stunt built on sham numbers that no one should trust,” Alex Padilla, California’s senior senator and former secretary of state, said in a statement. “DHS hasn't explained how it arrived at these figures, how it obtained the underlying data, or whether any of these individuals are actually noncitizens who actually cast a ballot.”

DHS Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said his agency found thousands of noncitizens on voter rolls in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania during a preliminary review and drafted a press release making the claim, John Sakellariadis and Maggie Miller reported on Thursday.

The press release, which did not say whether there was any evidence of voting by non-citizens or explain how DHS reached its finding, was circulated inside the agency ahead of Trump’s planned prime time speech in which he had promised to reveal “really big news” on election security.

The announcement immediately raised questions about what records DHS relied on. California has so far succeeded in stopping the Trump administration from accessing its voter rolls. A federal judge in January dismissed a lawsuit the Department of Justice filed against Secretary of State Shirley Weber after her agency wouldn’t turn over the records the administration requested.

The DOJ has appealed the decision, and oral arguments took place before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in May.

“The California Secretary of State has not sent the federal government our statewide voter registration list in any format,” said DeDee Verdin, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office, in an email. “We have successfully fought the U.S. DOJ's unlawful demand for a copy of our entire [unredacted] statewide voter registration database."

“Given that no court has ruled in favor of U.S. DOJ's efforts to access states' unredacted voter rolls out of 15 cases that have reached a decision, we are optimistic that the Ninth Circuit will uphold the State's ability to protect the sensitive information of California's 23 million registered voters,” Verdin added.

Trump alluded to that challenge in an address Thursday evening, claiming his administration’s estimate was likely an undercount because states had refused to hand over their voter rolls. He said DHS would hold a press conference today on the issue.

Padilla said DHS’ “lack of transparency also raises serious questions about whether it violated state law to obtain California's voter registration records.”

A spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Registrar said in a statement that “we have not received or provided information to the federal government regarding non-citizens on the rolls in Los Angeles County.”

Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Gavin Newsom pointed to asocial media statement from the governor noting that only citizens are legally allowed to vote in California.

“Voter fraud is EXTREMELY RARE — and almost always committed by U.S. citizens,” Newsom wrote. “Donald Trump’s Administration has repeatedly pushed false and misleading claims about elections. They have provided NO evidence to support these new ‘claims.”’

Marc Berman, a Democratic state lawmaker whose 2021 legislation made universal vote-by-mail permanent , said the Department of Homeland Security should instead focus on Trump's baseless theories about his 2020 election loss.

"If Secretary Mullin wants to investigate voter fraud in America, I suggest he start with his boss,” Berman said in a statement. “The only person who has been caught demanding that elections officials make up thousands of votes is President Donald J. Trump, who begged the Georgia Secretary of State to 'find 11,780 votes' to steal the 2020 presidential election.”

Melanie Mason contributed reporting.

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