Top U.S. DOJ official orders California to review list of possible noncitizens who received mail ballots

October 14, 2026 / 11:56 AM EDT / CBS News

Washington — The Justice Department has ordered California to review a list of people whom the federal government believes may have received mail-in ballots for the upcoming November election despite not being U.S. citizens, according to a letter reviewed by CBS News.

In the Oct. 13 letter, acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter imposed a 48-hour deadline to review the list of names, which were provided on a password-protected thumb drive, to determine the citizenship status of each individual.

"For individuals whom you cannot independently confirm citizenship status, we request that you immediately instruct the appropriate elections official to segregate — not cancel — those individuals' vote-by-mail ballots until their citizenship status can be determined," McCotter wrote.

"If individuals on the list have not yet been sent a vote-by-mail ballot, take all immediate and reasonable steps to not provide a ballot to those individuals until we confirm their citizenship status," he added.

CBS News has reached out to California's secretary of state for comment.

The letter reviewed by CBS News was sent to the Los Angeles County clerk's office, but similar such letters were also mailed out to other counties…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/