Santa Clara County Refuses DOJ Demand to Set Aside 902 Ballots: 'Three Duplicates on the First Page Alone'

Santa Clara County has refused a U.S. Department of Justice demand to set aside ballots from 902 registered voters and verify their citizenship. The county answered the request in letters to the U.S. Attorney's Office, KQED reported. We covered the DOJ's original letter here.

What the county said

"Unsupported allegations from a letter from the federal government does not constitute a basis to sequester votes or failed to count them without a subpoena or a warrant," County Executive James Williams told NBC Bay Area.

Williams and County Counsel Tony LoPresti argued that state and federal law bar the registrar from complying, according to KQED. They said the DOJ has no warrant for the Social Security and driver's license data it wants. They also cited the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents systematic purges of voter rolls within 90 days of an election.

Williams called a letter threatening election officials with criminal and other legal sanctions "deeply disturbing and entirely inappropriate," KQED reported.

Questions about the list

"There were three duplicates on the first page alone; the data looks very messy," Williams told KQED. "A significant number of random names appear not to be voters in Santa Clara County at all."

Registrar of Voters Matt Moreles said the county will keep following all state and federal laws. "We are doing everything to safeguard the privacy of voter information," he told NBC Bay Area.

The bigger fight

NBC Bay Area said San Francisco, Contra Costa and San Mateo counties got similar letters and are working with the Secretary of State's office on a response. KQED reported that a federal judge in Los Angeles was set to hear the government's request to speed up enforcement on Tuesday. A federal appeals court had earlier ruled it was too soon to step in on the government's request to halt counting of 20,000 flagged ballots statewide.

Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, praised the county. "Our elections officials need to continue focusing on what they're doing," he told KQED.

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.