Key takeaways:
- President Donald Trump's Department of Justice filed a lawsuit in a desperate attempt to block California from counting over 20,000 ballots in the 2026 midterm elections.
- There is no credible evidence that the DOJ's list of allegedly ineligible voters is accurate or reliable. They were targeted based on faulty and incomplete citizenship data using a shoddy and opaque methodology.
- Campaign Legal Center and a pro-voter coalition took legal action to stop the Trump administration’s attempt to silence voters.
In a desperate attempt to undermine the 2026 midterm election results, President Donald Trump's Department of Justice (DOJ) filed an unfounded lawsuit in California just weeks before Election Day to try to block the state from counting over 20,000 ballots.
Campaign Legal Center, alongside a pro-voter coalition, has moved to intervene in this case to stop this outrageous attempt to silence voters in the midterm elections.
Why is the DOJ targeting voters in California?
In July 2026, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) contacted California election officials and informed them that the federal government had created a list that they alleged contained thousands of Californians who are “likely” ineligible to vote, despite providing no credible evidence. California’s election officials asked DHS to provide more information about the data sources and methods used to create their list — which the federal government did not provide.
On October 13, 2026, long after ballots were mailed to all eligible California voters as required by law, the DOJ sent a letter to the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk in Los Angeles County and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber along with a thumb drive containing a list of over 20,000 voters whom the DOJ alleges are “likely” ineligible to vote.
The DOJ demanded that, within 48 hours, California’s election officials separate and refuse to count these ballots, despite refusing to explain how they created the list and providing no credible evidence that these voters are ineligible. California declined to comply with the DOJ’s demands, again asking for more information about how the list was created, and informing the DOJ that following their requests would violate state and federal law.
On October 15, 2026, the DOJ sued election officials in the state of California and Los Angeles County for refusing to comply with their orders.
Shortly after the DOJ filed their lawsuit, Campaign Legal Center, Democracy Defenders Fund, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Office of General Counsel — on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) and the NAACP, NAACP California/Hawaii State Conference (NAACP CA/HI), and NAACP Los Angeles Branch — moved to intervene in this case.
On October 19, 2026, the DOJ asked the district court in Los Angeles for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that would require California officials to separate and not count ballots from the 20,000 voters on the DOJ’s list. They asked the court to rule by Election Day — November 3, 2026.
On October 21, 2026, the district court judge set a hearing on the DOJ’s motion for October 27, 2026. Later that night, the DOJ filed a new request, demanding that the district judge rule on their TRO request by noon the next day — only 15 hours later.
When the district court did not rule by the DOJ’s unreasonable self-created deadline, the DOJ ignored the normal judicial process, bypassed the district court, and went straight to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on October 23, 2026, to ask them to allow the federal government to disenfranchise these 20,000 voters. However, the Ninth Circuit quickly dismissed the DOJ’s requests for lack of jurisdiction and sent the case back to the district court.
Campaign Legal Center will continue its efforts to defend these California voters in the face of a reckless DOJ.
Why is this case so troubling?
There is no credible evidence that the Department of Justice's list of allegedly ineligible voters is accurate or reliable. These 20,000 Californians were targeted based on faulty and incomplete citizenship data using a shoddy and opaque methodology.
Since the beginning of his second term, President Trump and his administration have undertaken a coordinated campaign to undermine Americans’ freedom to vote, and these actions by the DOJ in California are part of this larger pattern of unlawful efforts.
They've attempted to seize sensitive voter data from the states, unlawfully change the way our elections are run and limit Americans’ access to the ballot.
Campaign Legal Center stands ready to defend voters under attack by the Trump administration, or any anti-voter actors trying to silence voices and alter election results. Join us in the fight today.