Three North Bay counties have now formally refused U.S. Justice Department demands that they help check the citizenship of registered voters on federal lists and set aside those voters' mail ballots. Napa, Sonoma and Marin each got a letter dated Oct. 23 from Craig Missakian, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, the Press Democrat, the Napa Valley Register and the Marin Independent Journal reported.

The letters are part of the same federal push that has reached Santa Clara County and other counties around the state. They gave local officials 48 hours to commit to working with the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to sort out who on each list is a citizen.

What the letters asked for

The letters asked registrars for nonpublic information about the listed voters, including Social Security numbers, state ID or driver's license information, copies of voter registration applications and any documents presented at registration, the Press Democrat reported. The Justice Department also asked counties to "segregate, not cancel" the mail ballots of the listed voters until their citizenship could be determined.

Napa: 42 names

Napa County's list had 42 voters. The county has about 86,000 registered voters. Registrar of Voters John Tuteur, who has led the elections office for 29 years, answered in a letter on Tuesday, Oct. 27, writing that he "cannot comply with DOJ's demand under federal and state law," the Register reported. He said eligibility investigations must be based on evidence and handled by agencies such as the secretary of state or attorney general. He asked the federal government to send any individualized evidence about a Napa voter by Oct. 30.

Tuteur told the Press Democrat he had "sequestered" the list and had not looked at the names. "I took an oath," he told the Register. "I'm going to continue to run the election according to the law and we're doing just that as we speak."

Sonoma: 155 names

Sonoma County's list had 155 voters, out of about 320,000 registered. County Counsel Joshua Myers said in an Oct. 26 response that complying would violate federal and state law. "DOJ certainly knows how to obtain a judicial warrant and could have done so if they had a sufficient evidentiary basis for the allegations in the letter," Myers wrote, adding that the county "will not be bullied into participating in DOJ's fishing expedition without more definitive information," according to the Press Democrat. Chief Deputy Registrar Wendy Hudson said ballot processing is "business as usual."

Marin: 48 names

Missakian's letter to Marin Registrar Natalie Adona said it contained "48 likely aliens," the IJ reported. The county announced Tuesday that it would not comply, saying the demands likely violate laws that protect privacy and the right to vote. "The rights of lawfully registered voters cannot depend on whether an outside list happens to include their names," Adona said.

The court fight

The state-level case is moving at the same time. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter denied the federal request to stop California counties from processing the roughly 20,000 flagged ballots. "Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable. Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred," Carter wrote, as quoted by the Press Democrat. Earlier, the California secretary of state had advised counties to reject the demands. The secretary of state's office also said a Los Angeles County review of part of the federal list found that fewer than half the people named had active registrations.

For voters on the North Bay lists, nothing changes. Their ballots are being processed like everyone else's.

How to vote

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls and vote centers close at 8 p.m., and mailed ballots must be postmarked by Election Day and arrive within seven days. You can check your registration and ballot status at sos.ca.gov/elections. California lets you register and vote the same day at a vote center.

More races and measures: our 2026 election hub.