U.S. Department of Justice demands personal data of hundreds of Monterey County voters.

Just a week-and-a-half before the Nov. 3 election, agents from the U.S. Department of Justice hand-delivered a demand to the Monterey County Registrar of Voters that she turn over the personal data of non-citizens who had allegedly registered to vote. 

The U.S. Department of Justice Northern District of California letter, delivered on Friday, Oct. 23, demanded the information of people they believed to have been “aliens” off of Monterey County voter rolls, leading to a sharp rebuke from the County of Monterey on Oct. 27. 

"This is a direct, reckless assault on the integrity of our local elections and a transparent attempt to undermine the incredible work of our dedicated Elections Department,” County leadership wrote in a joint statement. 

The demand letter, signed by U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian, is just one of a blitz of letters sent to every county in the state, each with similar demands alongside a county-specific breakdown of a total 20,000 names sent to the California Secretary of State by the DOJ on Oct. 13. 

In the letter, Missakian demanded that within 48 hours, the Registrar of Voters work with the Department of Homeland Security and the DOJ to determine who was and was not a citizen and send their personal information, including Social Security numbers, voter registration application and copies of their driver's license.

Missakian also asked that the Registrar of Voters separate the vote by mail ballots of anybody whose citizenship status could not be determined, and not count them until it could be determined. 

Missakian warned of criminal consequences against Registrar of Voters Gina Martinez if she aided a federal crime. 

In a response letter dated Oct. 27, County Counsel Susan Blitch called the threats of criminal consequence from the DOJ an unlawful intimidation of election officials and California voters. Blitch also wrote that the 310 names were unsubstantiated and came from unreliable third-party data, and that the County legally could not comply with the letter's demands.

According to County spokesperson Nick Pasculli, of the 310 names, 142 were active voters compliant with the law, and of those, 17 were first-time voters undergoing verification before their votes could be counted. 

The remaining 168 names were not registered to vote in the county, Pasculli says. 

The California Northern District DOJ did not respond to a request for comment. 

The effort is part of a larger one by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to accumulate data of who they believe may be illegally voting as the Trump administration pushes a mass deportation campaign to remove undocumented immigrants from the country. 

As part of the ongoing effort to crack down on what the DOJ believes is election fraud in California, they also announced Oct. 19 that they had charged 28 green card holders in the state with fraudulently registering to vote. 

"Our Elections Department operates with the highest standards of accuracy, transparency and fidelity to the law," Martinez said in a written statement. "To that end, we will continue to operate following federal and state laws in the administration of this election. We are fully focused on conducting a free, fair and secure election, and we will protect every single legal vote in Monterey County."