The Department of Justice demanded that California election officials prove the citizenship of thousands of voters flagged as potential non-citizens within 48 hours.
Posted by Philip Teresi, Checked
- Sources
- 6 support2 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 80%
Philip TeresiOct 16, 2026
Multiple sources report that DOJ letters gave California officials 48 hours to determine the citizenship of flagged voters, with AP and NYT putting the group at roughly 20,000 voters, which fits 'thousands.' The initial demand was to state officials Weber and Logan on October 14, and the claim's date of October 16 falls after that, so the core assertion holds.
This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.
What was said
… Now we have a new action from the Department of Justice. It has nothing to do with Gavin Newsom personally, nor with the foundation that pays for his travel. California election officials have been put on notice that they have 48 hours to respond to a DOJ demand for California voter records or face possible emergency court action. They, the Department of Justice, is attempting, they say, to ferret out alleged voter fraud ahead of November 3, and they're demanding that officials statewide prove the citizenship of thousands of voters that were flagged by the federal government as potential non-citizens, or they insist that the ballots be withheld or set aside. The acting deputy attorney general, Trent McCotter, is the one who made the demand. …
Philip Teresi · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. LA Times and USA Today report that DOJ acting Deputy AG Trent McCotter's October 14 letters to Secretary of State Shirley Weber and LA County's Dean Logan demanded review of flagged voters within 48 hours.[4][5]
Supports. AP reports the DOJ demand covered roughly 20,000 voters flagged as potential noncitizens and asked for citizenship information, consistent with the claim's 'thousands of voters.'[1]
Supports. The Stat/SF-style coverage notes the earlier letters to Weber and Logan called for some 20,000 ballots to be set aside until officials could prove voters were citizens, and that the Justice Department then sued.[6]
Supports. NYT and Reuters report later county letters repeating the 48-hour deadline to identify citizenship status of people on federal lists, confirming the pattern of the demand.[2][3]
Context. Later county-level letters (October 23) and the post-October 16 escalation do not change the state of affairs on the claim's date, though the claim's specific 'state officials' framing is based on the October 14 letters.[7][8]
Sources
8 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 2 tier 2, 4 not rated
- 1California election officials rattled by DOJ demand to ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2US Justice Dept demands California counties help identify suspected noncitizen votersreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 3Justice Dept. Demands That California Counties Help Identify Noncitizen Votersnytimes.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 4With midterms underway, Justice Department presses California to withhold flagged voters’ ballotslatimes.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5DOJ demands California review voters' citizenship or withhold ...usatoday.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6‘This is not normal': Feds demand California counties set aside ‘likely' noncitizen ballotsthestate.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 7DOJ demands that California counties help identify ...nbcnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: context
- 8DOJ tells California registrars to quarantine ballots within 48 hourssfchronicle.com · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
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