Butte County clerk-recorder Keaton Denlay says Department of Justice agents hand-delivered a list of alleged noncitizen voters riddled with errors and threatened him with criminal prosecution if he did not set aside their ballots. Denlay refused, saying the list failed to meet California's burden of proof for challenging a voter's eligibility.
A California county elections official is publicly pushing back against the Department of Justice's campaign against purported voter fraud, saying federal officials gave him a disorganized list of names filled with inaccuracies and threatened to criminally prosecute him if he did not act.
Keaton Denlay, clerk-recorder and registrar of voters for Butte county, north of Sacramento, said a federal agent on Friday hand-delivered what appeared to be a printout of a poorly formatted Excel spreadsheet with missing and jumbled information. The DoJ claimed the list contained 47 likely noncitizens unlawfully registered to vote and demanded the county set aside their ballots.
Denlay declined to act. The DoJ's letter, reviewed by the Guardian, said: "If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime."
Denlay said the document was riddled with errors and lacking crucial details. "Taking all this information as a whole, it kind of becomes absurd, so I'm not losing any sleep over it," he said in an interview on Wednesday, referring to the government's threats. "I know that as long as I am doing what I need to do to uphold my oath that I took when I took office, that I'm doing the right thing. I'm going to continue doing my job the way that supports Butte county and our voters."
In a statement published on the county's website, Denlay detailed the problems. He said the two-page list was actually two copies of the same list, and although the DoJ said it had identified 47 names, the list only contained 46, including one repeated twice. Of the 45 distinct names, 32 were not individuals on Butte county's active voter rolls and were not sent ballots. Seven names lacked sufficient information to cross-reference, such as only a partial name, a partial address, no date of birth, no driver's license number or no social security digits. This left six names out of the alleged 47 that may, according to DoJ, be ineligible to vote.
Denlay noted that under California law, a challenger of a voter's eligibility must establish extraordinary proof at the time the challenge is made. "Given the overall inaccuracy of the list provided and its lack of specificity, I believe the Department of Justice has not met that burden," he wrote.
The DoJ letter was signed by Eric Grant, US attorney for the eastern district of California. A spokesperson for the office declined to comment on Denlay's statement, and a DHS spokesperson did not respond to an inquiry.
Denlay is not alone. Francisco Diaz, registrar of voters for San Benito county on California's central coast, said his office received a list of 33 names and found some weren't currently registered in the county. "We will not be intimidated by agents with guns for simply doing our jobs, nor will we be rushed into compromising confidential voter data," Diaz said. The Orange county registrar said officials had delivered the letter to the wrong office, the county's clerk-recorder, which handles marriage licenses and property deeds, not elections, CalMatters reported.
The confrontation comes as DoJ officials spend the final weeks of the midterm elections aggressively targeting California, alleging about 20,000 voters in the state are likely noncitizens and suing to stop those ballots from being counted. State officials have strongly rejected the claims, saying prosecutors used unreliable data and risked disenfranchising US citizens, and arguing the federal government lacked authority to interfere. The DoJ sent letters directly to county registrars across California demanding they set aside certain ballots and gave local leaders 48 hours to respond. Public statements threatening to charge election officials with crimes drew a rebuke from a federal judge weighing the DoJ's lawsuit. Legal experts have said the DoJ was making empty threats designed to intimidate officials.
Denlay said he wanted voters to feel confident in the state's election procedures: "If voters are on the active voter list, it means they've met all the criteria under California and federal law to be eligible voters. If somebody is going to try and take that away, even temporarily or whatever they wanted us to do here, California law is very clear that a challenger shall have the burden of establishing extraordinary proof ... this list didn't even come close to that."
Analysis
Why This Matters
- Federal officials are pressuring local election administrators to set aside ballots during a midterm election, testing the boundary between state and federal authority over elections.
- The accuracy of the DoJ's voter fraud allegations is being challenged, raising concerns about potentially disenfranchising US citizens.
- County officials say they are following state law, which places the burden of proof on challengers to show a voter is ineligible.
Background
The Department of Justice has spent the final weeks of the midterm elections targeting California, alleging about 20,000 voters in the state are likely noncitizens and suing to stop those ballots from being counted. State officials have rejected the claims as unreliable and argue the federal government lacks authority to interfere in this manner. The DoJ sent letters directly to county registrars demanding they set aside certain ballots, with 48-hour deadlines, and publicly threatened to charge officials with crimes. A federal judge weighing the DoJ's lawsuit rebuked those threats.
Key Perspectives
Keaton Denlay: says the list he received contained 46 names, with one repeated, leaving only six that may be ineligible, and the DoJ did not meet the burden of proof under California law.
Department of Justice: in its letter, said the list contained 47 likely aliens and warned that officials who knowingly tabulate ballots cast by noncitizens risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.
Francisco Diaz, San Benito County registrar: said his office will not be intimidated by agents with guns for doing their jobs, nor rushed into compromising confidential voter data.
California state officials: have strongly rejected the DoJ's claims as unreliable and said the federal government lacked authority to interfere with state elections.
Legal experts: have said the DoJ was making empty threats designed to intimidate officials, and that California election leaders were following the law when they declined to comply.
What to Watch
- Whether other county registrars respond to the DoJ's 48-hour demand letters and set aside ballots before the election.
- The federal judge's ruling on the DoJ's lawsuit against California over alleged noncitizen voting.
- Whether the DoJ provides corrected lists or escalates its threats against local officials.
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 9 supported.
Show each claim
- SupportedThe California election official rebuffed a DOJ voter-fraud demand, citing an inaccurate list and threats.World news | The Guardian: “But Denlay said the document was riddled with errors and lacking crucial details, and he declined to act on it.”
- Partly supportedFederal agents warned Denlay they would prosecute him if he did not segregate the ballots.World news | The Guardian: ““If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.””
- Partly supportedDOJ agents hand-delivered the list to Denlay.World news | The Guardian: “an individual identifying himself as a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agent dropped off paperwork at his office”
- Partly supportedDOJ demanded that the county set aside the ballots of the 47 people on its list.World news | The Guardian: ““For individuals whom you cannot independently confirm citizenship status, we request that you immediately instruct the appropriate elections official to segregate – not cancel – those individuals’ vote-by-mail ballots until their citizenship status can be determined,” the letter said.”
- SupportedThe DOJ letter said people who knowingly tabulated ballots cast by people identified as noncitizens risked being aiders and abettors to a federal crime.World news | The Guardian: ““If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.””
- SupportedDenlay said the list did not meet the burden for challenging voter eligibility under California law.World news | The Guardian: ““Given the overall inaccuracy of the list provided and its lack of specificity, I believe the Department of Justice has not met that burden,” Denlay wrote.”
- SupportedThe DOJ said it had identified 47 names, but the list contained 46, including one repeated name.World news | The Guardian: “although the DoJ said it had identified 47 names, the list only contained 46 names, including one repeated twice, according to Denlay.”
- SupportedThe list had 45 distinct names.World news | The Guardian: “Of the 45 distinct names on the list, 32 of them were not individuals on Butte county’s active voter rolls and were not sent ballots, he said.”
- SupportedOf the names, 32 were not on Butte County’s active voter rolls and were not sent ballots.World news | The Guardian: “Of the 45 distinct names on the list, 32 of them were not individuals on Butte county’s active voter rolls and were not sent ballots, he said.”
- SupportedSeven names lacked enough information to cross-reference with voter rolls.World news | The Guardian: “Seven of the names lacked sufficient information for him to cross-reference with his voter rolls”
- SupportedDenlay said six names remained that might, according to DOJ, be ineligible to vote.World news | The Guardian: ““This left six names out of the alleged 47 that may, according to DoJ, be ineligible to vote,” Denlay wrote in his statement”
- SupportedDOJ alleged about 20,000 voters in California were likely noncitizens and sued to stop those ballots from being counted.World news | The Guardian: “DoJ officials have spent the final weeks of the midterm elections aggressively targeting California , alleging 20,000 voters in the state “are likely noncitizens” and suing to stop those ballots from being counted.”