Why did the Justice Department use grand jury subpoenas against California election offices before voting, and how reliable is its 20,000-name noncitizen list?

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The Justice Department used grand jury subpoenas because a federal judge rejected its request to force California to segregate ballots tied to a disputed list of suspected noncitizens, while also noting that if prosecutors believe crimes occurred, they can pursue criminal cases. The subpoenas let investigators demand unredacted voter-registration records, county screening procedures, and communications with federal officials as part of a formal criminal probe before more ballots were processed and separated from identifying envelopes. The timing reflects the government’s argument that ballot processing creates urgency: once signatures are verified and ballots are removed from envelopes, individual ballots generally cannot be traced back to voters. Federal officials say that makes post-election review harder and supports rapid investigative steps before counting is complete. The reliability of the 20,000-name list is heavily disputed and, on the record so far, not firmly established. California officials, election experts and Judge David Carter have all questioned the methodology. The state says federal officials would not fully disclose the underlying data or matching process. Reporting indicates the list was built by matching public voter files with immigration, State Department, Social Security and commercial databases, a method critics say can wrongly flag naturalized citizens or people with incomplete records. Court filings and county reviews raised concrete doubts. Los …

DOJ Subpoenas California Election Officials in Voter Rolls Probe Days Before Midterms

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DOJ Subpoenas California Election Officials in Voter Rolls Probe Days Before Midterms

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