PRESS RELEASE

PR26-127
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 14, 2026
Contact: sospess@sos.ca.gov 

California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D., Issues Statement in Response to U.S. Department of Justice Letter
 

Sacramento, CA – Yesterday, the Secretary of State’s (SOS) office received a demand to review a list of an unknown number of people the “Federal Government believes are likely noncitizens”, but the United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) did not provide the list to our office.  

The USDOJ gave SOS 48 hours to obtain the list, investigate, and take action - just 21 days before the November 3 General Election. The Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder County/Clerk confirmed that the list was provided to their office on a protected thumb drive with the password indicated on a sticky note. Click here to view the U.S. DOJ Letter to LA County.

In July of this year, President Trump and DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullen made (still) unsubstantiated claims that California had 190,000 non-citizens on its voter rolls. Given the many high-profile examples of states purging US citizens from their voter rolls based on DHS/SAVE data, SOS immediately requested written information about their methodology and data sources to back up their claims. They refused and provided California with nothing. 

Now the USDOJ, under threat of "emergency" litigation, demands that California blindly trust this administration without any evidence or legal authority to justify its request. 

“The USDOJ’s relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states’ protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections,” said California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. “California has robust state law requirements that only U.S. citizens can register to vote and that any non-eligible registrants are removed from the State’s voter rolls. My office and California election officials remain committed – as always – to ensuring a fair and smooth 2026 General Election.” 

Click here to view the U.S. DOJ Letter to SOS.

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