The U.S. Justice Department has asked the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters to help identify 902 registered voters it says are likely not citizens, and to send identifying information, including Social Security numbers, within 48 hours, NBC Bay Area reported.
The letter, from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, arrived Friday. It warned that mailing ballots to people on the list or counting their votes would be a federal crime. San Francisco, Los Angeles County and more than a dozen other counties got similar letters.
How officials responded
- "I can't recall my 20-plus years in this county of receiving a letter like this from the Department of Justice," Registrar Matt Moreles told NBC Bay Area. He said the office is reviewing it with county leadership.
- A spokesperson for San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu called it "clearly another ploy to interfere with the election 11 days before election day."
- The DOJ did not respond to NBC Bay Area's request for comment.
Voting goes on
Santa Clara County opened 23 vote centers on Saturday, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Telemundo 48 reported. The county has more than 1 million registered voters and had already received more than 130,000 mail ballots. Another 87 centers open next weekend, bringing the total to 110.
The registrar told Telemundo that voters can trust the election and that the office is working to protect voters' privacy and keep voting free from intimidation.
See every race and measure in our Election 2026 guide.