The war over California’s elections intensified later this week after the Justice Department asked three Los Angeles County officials to receive criminal grand jury subpoenas for their handling of thousands of state ballots, arguing they may have been cast by noncitizens.
Unions and voting rights groups have fought back, setting off a new round of action in federal lawsuits already surrounding ballot recall orders. The storm engulfed the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday morning and appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court, which will decide whether to hear the case.
Law enforcement experts and election officials say it is extremely rare for noncitizens to vote. Yet the Trump administration stubbornly pursues the opposite proposition. Under a subpoena, Los Angeles County officials were ordered to turn over a trove of internal documents — emails, text messages and other materials — related to their handling of a government request to seize 20,000 disputed ballots.
The subpoena also orders them to produce any evidence they may collect, “which often shows that foreigners have voted.”
Prosecutors allege that widespread noncitizen voting disenfranchised Americans by diluting their legal votes.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters Dean Logan and hundreds of staff who report to him enter Tuesday’s election under the cloud of a criminal investigation, with department officials ordered to appear in Santa Ana federal court Wednesday morning.
“Threats and intimidation have no place in an election,” Logan said.
Who was summoned? What is the purpose of the command?
So far, at least three employees of the Los Angeles County Register and Records Office have been subpoenaed as part of the investigation, although the AP reports that prosecutors in all four federal districts in California have issued similar orders.
The Justice Department has subpoenaed thousands of voter records from state and local officials related to noncitizens voting en masse in California. Now, prosecutors are seeking nearly all written communications within local election offices to learn how they responded to those requests to identify and expel such voters, including lists of employees who were informed of the directive.
The court questioned the reliability of the Justice Department’s list of potential noncitizen voters.
In addition, staff must turn over all communications related to the office’s efforts to prevent non-citizens from voting, including self-deleting text from apps like Signal.
The subpoena also requires the city to collect any evidence that even a single non-citizen voted in the election, as well as details of anyone who may have “aided and/or abetted” them.
“When the state of California has actual knowledge of the non-citizens on the voter rolls, if they help them vote, they are now aiding and abetting a criminal offense,” Bill Essaly, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, told Fox News this month.
He posted on social media this week that his office “will hold accountable anyone who illegally participates in our elections and those who help them.”
Is the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters under criminal investigation?
perhaps.
Logan was not subpoenaed, but targets of criminal investigations typically are not called to testify before a grand jury because the Fifth Amendment protects people from testifying against themselves.
The Justice Department declined to comment on whether Logan might be charged.
A spokesman said: “While the Ministry of Justice insists civil remedies remain available, everyone agrees that non-citizen voting issues are appropriately addressed through criminal law.”
Instead, nearly every staffer who handles ballots that the Justice Department may seek to contest faces the threat of prosecution.
“They are all going to jail for a long time!!!” President Trump posted on social media as the fighting intensified this month.
A lawsuit filed Thursday by the Service Employees International Union and its partners on behalf of workers says the subpoenas are “part of a coordinated effort to intimidate, threaten and coerce state and local officials and employees engaged in the difficult and important work of administering the ongoing 2026 midterm elections.”
The union’s lawsuit also claims that thousands of California voters could be disenfranchised if the court does not block the federal government’s efforts to “force them to stop processing and counting ballots.”
“Threatening these election workers with criminal prosecution for faithfully performing their duties under federal and state law is patently unlawful and, unless prohibited, could disenfranchise tens of thousands of legally registered voters,” the lawsuit states.
Elected officials also condemned the move.
“The Trump administration’s escalating attacks on California’s hard-working election officials are unacceptable,” California attorneys said. Gen. Rob Bonta wrote on social media.
Can a subpoena be blocked?
It depends.
The expected Supreme Court order could offset much of the Justice Department’s request, as much of what officials are being asked to turn over involves 20,000 disputed ballots whose fate will be decided in Washington, D.C.
The union lawsuit also asks the court to protect election officials from prosecution over vote counting, which could actually block potential criminal investigations.
Will my vote be counted?
State and local officials vowed to proceed with the election as usual. So far, courts have sided with their efforts, with a panel of Ninth Circuit judges writing on Friday that they “reject the United States’ invitation to violate the Elections Clause by undermining the express text of the Constitution.”
The judges — two appointed by Trump and one nominated by President Biden — ruled 2-1 in California’s favor.
“If the United States believes that mail-in ballots require different procedures, we believe it should submit that recommendation to Congress, not the courts,” the panel argued.
The decision, taken just before noon on Friday, all but ensures that the issue will go to the Supreme Court and be decided there before voting closes on Tuesday.
But with hundreds of thousands of ballots already returned and hundreds more sent through the mail over the weekend, legal battles could still cause delays. The Supreme Court’s ruling against the Justice Department could further disrupt that process.
“The primary concern remains that granting the relief requested by the United States would impose substantial hardship on defendants and risk disenfranchising eligible voters and jeopardizing the entire tabulation process, thereby harming the public interest,” the Ninth Circuit wrote.