On Friday President Donald Trump warned California election officials that they will go to prison if they count mail-in ballots from about 20,000 people who have been identified as possible noncitizens by the federal government, intensifying the legal dispute with the state mere weeks before the midterm elections.
FILE – Ballots are sorted the day after California’s primary election at the LA County Ballot Processing Center, June 3, 2026, in City of Industry, Calif. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)California's voter registration system relies on applicants attesting to their own citizenship, and county officials argued that the system obligates them to count ballots from registered voters. The Trump administration disagrees.
"They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!" Trump wrote on Truth Social on Oct. 16. He attached a copy of a Justice Department letter to Los Angeles County that promised "significant" consequences for "facilitating or ignoring" noncitizens voting in a federal election.
"The legal consequences for either facilitating or ignoring a federal crime are significant," the letter reads. "Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime-and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful. Under 18 U.S.C. § 611(a), noncitizens are prohibited from voting in any election involving federal offices."
The letter continued:
Under 18 U.S.C. § 2, anyone who aids, abets, counsels, induces, or procures the commission of a federal offe
