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Over 40% of names on DOJ's 'noncitizen' voter list are not on California's voter rolls, analysis finds

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Cite

Riccardi, N. (2026, October 31). Over 40% of names on DOJ's 'noncitizen' voter list are not on California's voter rolls, analysis finds. The Independent. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/doj-noncitizen-voter-list-california-analysis-b3076927.html

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

The Independent · collected 2026-10-31 · by Nicholas Riccardi

Quick Summary

A legal filing by an immigrant rights group in California reveals that over 40% of names on a Department of Justice list flagged as potential noncitizen voters are not actually registered to vote in the state. The analysis, conducted by UCLA data scientists, also indicates thousands of U.S. citizens may be incorrectly listed. This report challenges the DOJ's demands for election officials to separate these ballots during vote counting, which multiple judges have deemed unconstitutional and a threat to democracy.
Written by AI on 2026-10-31, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

As of November 2, 2026, President Donald Trump's administration has asked the Supreme Court to block over 20,000 mail-in ballots in California, claiming these voters are non-U.S. citizens. This request was made just a day before midterms and follows a series of actions by federal agencies like ICE to interfere with voter registration, particularly targeting green card holders. A recent analysis found that more than 40% of the names on a DOJ list of alleged noncitizens don't appear on California's voter rolls; at least 22 are confirmed U.S. citizens. The Justice Department is also pushing for sanctions against an immigrant rights group that disclosed these findings. Despite this, federal judges have rejected attempts to invalidate ballots, warning such moves could undermine election integrity and public trust in the democratic process.

Written for “Trump Asks Supreme Court To Block Ballots” on 2026-11-03, grounded in this article and the 22 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump Asks Supreme Court To Block Ballots
Politics · 23 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans strongly left and hedges 9% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
Toronto Star
Hedges 4 of 30 claims Outlet record 64/100
Mother Jones
Hedges 3 of 18 claims Outlet record 60/100
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left further right than this Hedges 4 of 24 claims Outlet record 60/100
South China Morning Post
⚖️ Leans right further right than this Hedges 2 of 4 claims Outlet record 63/100
“While both articles discuss voter lists and potential non-citizen voting in California under the Trump administration, they describe different stages of a broader controversy: Article A reports on an analysis of the list, while Article B describes a legal action taken based on that list.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left further right than this Hedges 1 of 4 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A reports on a court ruling regarding Trump's DoJ request to block California from counting mail ballots, while Article B discusses an analysis of the DOJ's 'noncitizen' voter list.”
The Guardian
Hedges 2 of 18 claims Outlet record 66/100
“While both articles discuss the DOJ's list of alleged non-citizen voters in California, Article A focuses on a judge rejecting the DOJ's request to segregate ballots, while Article B reports an analysis finding that most names on the list are not actual voters.”
Reason
⚖️ Leans left further right than this Hedges 11 of 59 claims Outlet record 67/100
“While both articles discuss a list of potential noncitizen voters in California provided by the Trump administration, they describe different aspects and analyses of this issue, rather than the same specific incident.”
NBC News
⚖️ Leans right further right than this Hedges 2 of 19 claims Outlet record 60/100
“While both articles relate to the DOJ's investigation of noncitizen voting in California, Article A discusses the issuance of subpoenas to local election officials, while Article B focuses on an analysis of a list provided by the DOJ and finds many names are not actually on voter rolls.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ Leans left further right than this Hedges 2 of 22 claims Outlet record 66/100
“While both articles discuss related issues involving a list of alleged non-citizens registered to vote in California, Article A focuses on the court ruling denying Trump's administration request to block votes, whereas Article B reports on an analysis of the same list released by DOJ but does not mention the specific court event.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
11
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
9%
1 of 11 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
59/100
The Independent's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
23
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-31 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Independent · 3563 article(s) · 9 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 9 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Nicholas Riccardi
20 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Sullivan, a key ally of President Donald Trump, is competing against Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola in a pivotal contest that could determine Senate control.
🔮 "More fundamentally, the United States provides no workable plan as to how it proposes to segregate ballots cast for Daniel J. Sullivan on Election Day and then conduct a court-ordered unspecified "investigation" of those ballots in a manner that would preserve voter secrecy," she wrote.
🔮 WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said Sunday that he doubted claims by his Democratic opponent that she had no idea her top political aides were involved in recruiting a retired schoolteacher also named Dan Sullivan onto the ballot to confuse voters in a race that could determine which party controls the Senate.
🔮 It added there would be no way to do that without violating voter privacy.
🔮 It also found at least 22 are U.S. citizens, and many more may correspond to those of confirmed citizens.
🔮 It also found at least 22 are U.S. citizens and many more may correspond to those of confirmed citizens.
🔮 In Alaska, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan is facing three other challengers on the state’s final ballot in a race that could determine control of the Senate — Democrat Mary Peltola, who was previously the state’s lone House member, and two candidates who have barely campaigned, including a retired school teacher named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. Alaska Republicans have long suspected the second Sullivan of being a Democratic plant, and the Trump administration took the unusual step last week of suing to prevent certification of a possible Peltola victory until it could be determined if voters were confused. The New York Times this week reported that internal campaign texts and communications showed the Peltola campaign recruited the second Sullivan, leading the president to call for the Democrat’s prosecution and his Justice Department to issue a flurry of subpoenas in a criminal investigation.
🔮 While Trump maintains some support for his handling of the border, polling shows voters disapprove of his approach to immigration, a striking turnaround that could undermine Republican attempts to maintain control of Congress in the midterms.
🔮 The Democratic campaign for Alaska’s U.S. Senate seat was involved in efforts to place on the ballot a candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan in a bid to confuse voters in a race that could determine which party controls the chamber, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
🔮 “The least competitive election of our lifetimes will lead to the least accountable and least representative Congress of our lifetimes.”
Also by Nicholas Riccardi
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 20 articles by Nicholas Riccardi →

Topics

California U.S. UCLA Voting Rights Project the Department of Justice

Subjects

California GPE · 4× Trump PERSON · 2× U.S. GPE · 2× UCLA ORG · 2× CHIRLA ORG · 1× Democratic NORP · 1× Voting Rights Project ORG · 1× Xavier Becerra PERSON · 1× the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights ORG · 1× the Department of Justice ORG · 1×

Narrative

“This review proves, at least as a preponderance of the evidence, that demands of election officials under criminal and civil threats, endangers the voting rights of plaintiff CHIRLA's members and clients,” said the filing, which was co-signed by Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor and an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-31
🔮 It also found at least 22 are U.S. citizens and many more may correspond to those of confirmed citizens.

Claims (11 extracted, 1 hedged)

More than 4 in 10 names flagged as possible noncitizen voters in California by the Trump administration cannot even be found on the state's voter rolls, per a legal filing by an immigrant rights group on Saturday. asserted
names → flag → Saturday
It's the first outside analysis of a list that the Department of Justice has used to threaten prosecution of election officials. asserted
Department → use → officials
The analysis also found that thousands of U.S. citizens appear to be flagged as ineligible to vote on the government's list. asserted
thousands → find → list
The contention was made in a filing by two UCLA data scientists who analyzed the 20,930 names that the department demanded that California election officials treat as possible illegal voters by separating their ballots during the vote count on Election Day. asserted
officials → make → Day
Multiple judges have rejected the demand as unconstitutional and a threat to democracy, and local and state officials have said the list appears riddled with errors. asserted
list → reject → errors
The breadth of its problems was outlined in Saturday's filing. asserted
breadth → outline → filing
It describes an analysis by two members of the UCLA's Voting Rights Project, who filed a lawsuit challenging it with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. asserted
who → describe → Rights
The research found that 8,880 of the names, representing 42% of the entire list, do not correspond to anyone on California's current voter file. asserted
8,880 → find → file
It also found at least 22 are U.S. citizens and many more may correspond to those of confirmed citizens. uncertain
more → find → citizens
“This review proves, at least as a preponderance of the evidence, that demands of election officials under criminal and civil threats, endangers the voting rights of plaintiff CHIRLA's members and clients,” said the filing, which was co-signed by Xavier Becerra, the Democratic candidate for California governor and an adviser to the UCLA Voting Rights Project. asserted
which → prove → Project
The Trump administration had objected to sharing the list, calling it a “fishing expedition” and noting it included sensitive information. asserted
it → object → information
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