SACRAMENTO — California leaders forcefully disputed a Department of Homeland Security assertion that 190,832 noncitizens are registered to vote in the state, saying the agency has not produced evidence or explained how it reached that figure.
The claim, circulated inside DHS ahead of a national speech by former President Donald Trump, said the agency’s preliminary review identified thousands of noncitizens on voter lists in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania. California Democrats called the allegation a politically motivated stunt and demanded details about the data and methodology behind the number.
What changes for residents
For Californians, the immediate practical effect is limited: the state’s Elections Division says it has not provided unredacted voter registration data to the federal government and continues to safeguard its voter rolls. But the dispute raises potential new friction in an ongoing legal fight over federal access to state election databases.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat, dismissed the claims and criticized the lack of supporting documentation.
"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."
DeDee Verdin, a spokesperson for California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, reiterated that the state has not turned over its statewide voter registration list in any format to the federal government.
Legal backdrop
California has been defending its voter database from federal requests. In January, a federal judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit seeking California’s voter roll after Secretary Weber declined to provide the records. The DOJ has appealed, and oral arguments were heard by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in May.
State officials say no court has yet granted the federal government access to unredacted voter lists in the series of cases involving multiple states. That ongoing litigation is central to whether federal agencies can obtain detailed voter registration information from California.
Questions left unanswered
DHS did not indicate in the circulated material whether the agency has evidence that any of the people identified actually voted. Officials also did not explain which datasets they compared, how they determined citizenship status, or whether the findings were vetted for accuracy.
Election experts warn that matching records across databases without careful verification can produce false positives because of name similarities, data-entry errors and differing data standards.
- State response: California officials say they have not provided voter rolls to DHS or DOJ.
- Federal claim: DHS circulated material asserting noncitizens appear on voter lists in four states.
- Legal status: DOJ’s demand for unredacted California voter records remains under appeal at the 9th Circuit.
| Jurisdiction | Reported by DHS |
|---|---|
| California | 190,832 (as cited in circulated DHS material) |
| New Jersey | Not specified in the circulated summary |
| Nevada | Not specified in the circulated summary |
| Pennsylvania | Not specified in the circulated summary |
State Democrats characterized the announcement as lacking transparency and cautioned against accepting the figure without access to supporting records. The episode could intensify partisan disputes over election administration and the limits of federal inquiries into state voter files.
As the legal battle continues, California officials have emphasized the state’s commitment to protecting voter information and ensuring the integrity of its elections. Federal and state agencies have not publicly released the detailed evidence or methods behind the DHS figure as of Thursday.
Reporting from Sacramento. For follow-up developments, state officials and the 9th Circuit filings will be the authoritative sources on whether federal access to unredacted voter registries will expand.
