Gavin Newsom, the California Attorney General, and the California Secretary of State have obstructed efforts to clean up voter rolls.
Posted by Badlands Media, Checked
- Sources
- 4 contradict3 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 40%
Badlands MediaOct 21, 2026
The sources document that California officials refused DOJ's demand to act on a list of about 20,000 alleged noncitizens, sued by the DOJ, and the courts were skeptical of the federal request, but they do not establish whether this amounts to obstruction of voter-roll cleanup.
What was said
… the people, the residents of California, should mock that man to his face everywhere he goes, and he should not be able to walk down the street, because they've been trying to clean up the voter rolls since they got into office for the second time, and people like Gavin Newsom and his AG and his Secretary of State have obstructed every step of the way. They've filed baseless lawsuits, they've said the problem doesn't exist, and now they're saying, oh, you're just doing this in the active election period. …
Badlands Media · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Contradicts. Newsom, Weber and the Attorney General's office dispute the federal claim, calling the lawsuit unfounded and the list unreliable, and say the federal government has no role in how the state runs its elections.[2][3][4][5]
Context. The DOJ sued California officials, including Secretary of State Shirley Weber and LA registrar Dean Logan, to bar counting mail ballots from about 20,000 people it considers 'likely' noncitizens, after the state declined to review a thumb drive list on the DOJ's 48-hour demand.[1][4][5]
Context. A federal judge appeared unlikely to grant the DOJ's emergency request, and the Ninth Circuit dismissed the federal government's request to segregate ballots, per reporting on the hearings.[2][6]
Context. Earlier, a federal judge barred the administration from using federal immigration data to remove voters from rolls, finding the database 'plagued with inaccuracies'.[7]
Context. The post's phrasing 'obstructed every step of the way' and its claims of 'baseless lawsuits' are characterizations of the officials' conduct, not a documented factual finding of obstruction by any source.
Sources
7 sources: 1 fact-checker, 2 primary, 1 tier 2, 3 not rated
- 1Trump administration sues California over alleged noncitizens on the state's voter rollsapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: context
- 2Attorney General Bonta Scores Early Legal Victory Against ...oag.ca.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts, context
- 3Governor Newsom responds to unfounded Trump lawsuit that ...gov.ca.gov · primary source · cited for: contradicts
- 4DOJ sues California, demands it purge voter rolls for ...politico.com · tier 2 · cited for: contradicts, context
- 5Trump Administration Sues California Over Voter Roll Dispute | iHeartiheart.com · not rated · cited for: contradicts, context
- 6Los Angeles judge to rule Wednesday on DOJ bid to set ...abc7.com · not rated · cited for: context
- 7Feds sue CA over 20,000 alleged noncitizen voters. Newsom ...yahoo.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- California Attorney General Babathi Banta is prohibited by a court order from cross-checking state voter rolls against federal databases to demand the removal of ineligible voters.Can’t tell
- There is an ongoing effort to prevent 20,000 non-citizens from voting in California.True
- California has not acted on a list of 20,000 suspected non-citizens or agreed to set aside their ballots.True
- California's mail-in ballot system sends millions of ballots to people who have moved out of state or to multiple addresses.False
- The Trump administration sent a list of voters to California for removal from voter rolls.True