The Department of Justice is seeking to block up to 20,000 ballots from being counted in California due to concerns they may be from non-citizens.

Posted by Apple News Today, Oct 21, 2026Checked Oct 30, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 6 support4 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 88%

Apple News TodayOct 21, 2026

As of 2026-10-21, the DOJ had sued California (filed Oct. 15) to block the counting of mail ballots from roughly 20,000 voters it alleged are likely noncitizens, so the core claim holds. Sources describe the figure as "more than 20,000" (Reuters, DOJ) and "roughly 20,000" (AP), not "up to" 20,000, a minor framing difference; later rulings against DOJ (Oct.

This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.

What was said

… County. That's acting, Deputy Attorney General Trent Maccott at a d o j press conference on Monday. The department announced that it was charging 28 people in California with illegally voting or illegally registering to vote. It comes after a separate lawsuit asking the state to not count up to 20,000 registered voters ballots because prosecutors believe they might be non-citizens. California's attorney general said that voter fraud is wrong and if the alleged suspects are guilty, they should be held accountable. But at the same time, California officials have pushed back on the ballot effort. …

Apple News Today · Oct 21, 2026· from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Supports. The DOJ sued California on Oct. 15, 2026, asking a federal court to bar the state from counting vote-by-mail ballots from more than 20,000 voters it alleges are likely non-citizens, which matches the claim's core assertion.[1][3][4][7]

Supports. The DOJ's primary press release says the Justice Department, working with DHS, filed a complaint after determining that more than 20,000 likely noncitizens are registered to vote in California, establishing the government's stated non-citizen basis.[3]

Supports. By Oct. 2026 the DOJ had also asked the 9th Circuit to intervene to temporarily block counting of more than 20,000 mail-in ballots pending citizenship verification, showing the effort was active before the claim date.[5][6]

Context. The extracted claim says "up to" 20,000, while the sources say "more than" or "roughly" 20,000 and the passage said "up to"; this is a minor framing gap that does not change the central assertion.[1][2][3]

Context. Subsequent developments (a federal judge denying the request on Oct. 28 and the DOJ appealing) occurred after the claim date and do not alter whether DOJ was seeking the block on Oct. 21.[8][9][10]