26JUL

DOJ seeks to freeze 20,000 mail ballots

3 min read

10:41UTC

The Justice Department renewed its emergency bid on 21 October to make California set aside ballots sent to 20,000 voters it calls likely non-citizens. Los Angeles County says many on the list were born in the US.

← Back to 0-for-17 in court, and the map that held Jump to analysis ↓

PoliticsAssessed

Key takeaway

DOJ wants California ballots held back for 20,000 listed voters, but has charged 28 of them.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) renewed its emergency application on 21 October for a temporary restraining order (TRO) requiring California to set aside mail ballots sent to more than 20,000 registered voters it lists as "likely" non-citizens⁠¹. A TRO is a short-term order a judge can grant before a full hearing. The case moved that day to Judge David O. Carter of the federal court for California's Central District, and DOJ asked him for an expedited ruling. The Los Angeles registrar has asked the Court to throw the case out without a trial; that motion is set for hearing on 30 October. No ruling on the TRO appears on the docket.

The demand began with DOJ letters on 13 October to Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Los Angeles County registrar Dean Logan. They set the two officials a two-day deadline to withhold unsent ballots and keep returned ones from being verified or counted. Weber refused and DOJ sued on 15 October⁠². When DOJ wrote again on 16 October warning state and county election officials of legal consequences, Donald Trump reposted the letter with: "They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!"⁠³ Every earlier federal fight over voter eligibility this cycle concerned names on rolls. This one reaches ballots already returned.

On 19 October DOJ charged 28 lawful permanent residents across California's four federal districts, with offences from misdemeanour voting by a non-citizen to false statements on naturalisation applications⁠⁴. These are green-card holders: they live in the US legally but are not citizens. DOJ says 22 voted, one cast a provisional ballot and five only registered, in elections from 2020 to June 2026. A provisional ballot is held back until officials confirm the voter's eligibility. DOJ says all 28 appear on its list; they are accused, not convicted. "Every illegal vote cancels out the vote of a lawful American citizen," said Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter⁠⁵.

The 28 make up at most 0.14% of the list. Los Angeles County's 20 October court filing says over a quarter of the 7,000-plus listed voters at its addresses gave a US place of birth. It says nearly 40% of a sample of entries were registrations already cancelled, and most had never cast a ballot⁠⁶. All these figures come from parties to the case, and none proves the list right or wrong.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

In California, every registered voter gets a ballot in the post. The federal Justice Department says more than 20,000 of those voters are probably not US citizens, who may not vote in federal elections. It wants a judge to order the state to set those ballots aside, even ones already posted back, until citizenship is checked. California and Los Angeles County say the list is wrong for many people on it. A temporary restraining order is a quick, short-term court order made before a full hearing. No judge has granted one.

Deep Analysis

Root Causes

DOJ's earlier route to non-citizen registrants ran through the voter rolls, and that route has closed.

Judge Sparkle Sooknanan ruled on 9 October that DOJ acted unlawfully in collecting state rolls and demanding removals through the SAVE citizenship database, and the National Voter Registration Act's 90-day quiet period bars systematic removals this close to a federal election.

California law now sends a mail ballot to every active registered voter. Any name on the roll therefore has a ballot in circulation, which turns a dispute about who is registered into a dispute about which ballots count.

The list's method has not been published. LA County's finding that many listed voters gave a US birthplace suggests matching against records that do not show later naturalisation or birth in the US, though the filings do not say how DOJ built it.

Escalation

Rising. DOJ moved from letters on 13 October to a lawsuit on 15 October, a restraining-order application on 19 October and a renewed one on 21 October. A dismissal hearing on 30 October is the next fixed point.

What could happen next?

Consequence
Judge Carter's ruling on the restraining order, or the 30 October dismissal hearing, will decide whether any California ballots are set aside before polling day.
Immediate · Assessed
Precedent
An order to hold back returned ballots on DOJ's list would give the department a model to use against other states that mail ballots to all voters.
Medium term · Suggested
Risk
If set-aside ballots include citizens, as LA County's sample suggests, eligible voters could miss the window to prove their status.
Short term · Suggested

Source Landscape

This story draws on neutral-leaning sources from United States

United States

LeftRight

Primary parallel: On 6 November 2020, Justice Samuel Alito ordered Pennsylvania counties to keep mail ballots that arrived after polling day apart from the rest, at the Pennsylvania Republican Party's request. The ballots were kept apart while the challenge went on, and the Supreme Court later declined to take the case, so it never ruled them invalid.

Counter-parallel: On 2 November 2020, Judge Andrew Hanen in Houston refused a Republican request to throw out drive-through votes already cast in Harris County, Texas. Hanen found the challengers lacked standing, and Harris County counted the votes.

Consensus view: Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan's 20 October filing attacks the list itself: over a quarter of the 7,000-plus listed voters at county addresses gave a US place of birth, nearly 40% of sampled entries were registrations already cancelled, and most had never voted. On that evidence the list sweeps in citizens and dead entries alongside any non-citizens.

Counter-view: Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter says California must check the citizenship of all 20,000-plus registrants before their mail ballots are counted, and First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli says the state is mailing ballots to non-citizens. DOJ points to the 28 people it charged on 19 October, all of whom it says are on the list.

Key tension: Whether a federal judge will order a state to stop counting returned ballots on a standalone Supremacy Clause claim, with no federal statute that names that remedy, less than two weeks before polling day.

First Reported In

Update #21 · Senate GOP's cash lead trails its $20m loan

US Department of Justice· 22 Oct 2026

Read original →

Causes and effects

Caused by

Judge voids DOJ's SAVE voter-roll policy

Earlier federal voter-eligibility fights concerned names on rolls; the California case concerns ballots.

Occurred 9 Oct 2026

Read story →

Judge dismisses DOJ's Georgia voter suit

DOJ's Georgia voter-list suit was an earlier roll fight before the California ballot demand.

Occurred 30 Sept 2026

Read story →

This Event

DOJ seeks to freeze 20,000 mail ballots

DOJ's demand reaches ballots already returned, where every earlier federal eligibility fight this cycle concerned names on voter rolls.

Led to

Democrats sue Trump over his jail repost

The DSCC v. Trump complaint cites DOJ's California letters and Trump's jail repost.

Occurred 20 Oct 2026

Read story →

9th Circuit sends DOJ ballot case back

The panel ruled on DOJ's appeal from its renewed bid for an order setting aside 20,000 California mail ballots.

Occurred 26 Oct 2026

Read story →

Different Perspectives

Department of Justice (DOJ)

DOJ appealed to the 9th Circuit after Judge David O. Carter did not rule by a noon deadline on 22 October that DOJ itself had set, seeking to have California set aside mail ballots from more than 20,000 listed voters. Its case is that ineligible votes cancel lawful ones; the panel dismissed the appeal 2-1 on 26 October.

Lower Costs Now

Lower Costs Now reported $7.37m in Kansas on 24 and 25 October, part of $65.65m in Senate races since its first independent expenditure on 1 October, including $17.21m for Josh Turek in Iowa. Its FEC filings show $50.18m raised by 14 October.

MAGA Inc

MAGA Inc, the super PAC aligned with Donald Trump, filed $7.20m against James Talarico on 22 October, taking its Texas spending to $37.65m. Of that, $30.12m is against Talarico and $7.53m is for Ken Paxton, the Republican nominee.

Senate Majority PAC (SMP)

SMP's pre-general report shows it spent $108.70m from 1 to 14 October, including $65.0m to WinSenate and $10.0m to Texas Forever, and ended with $32.72m. Texas Forever has reported $19.40m against Ken Paxton since 1 October.

Senate Leadership Fund (SLF)

SLF's pre-general report shows $88.42m in cash on 14 October and $18.98m raised in the fortnight, none of it from Elon Musk. It has since reported $12.07m against Sherrod Brown in Ohio, and its $2.7m to Plains PAC preceded that committee's first Kansas buy on 25 October.

National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC)

The NRSC's pre-general report shows nothing spent with Ashley Hinson in Iowa, or with its nominees in six other states, from 1 to 14 October, after $5.54m with Hinson in September. It took no new loan and ended the fortnight with $25.20m in cash and $20m of debt.

Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Editorial standards.