Why This Matters

The subpoenas illustrate the specific information federal authorities are pursuing in what specialists describe as an extraordinary review of U.S. election procedures.

Five federal grand jury subpoenas secured by inewsource reveal that a Department of Justice inquiry into San Diego County voting files intensified over the summer through repeated demands for voting histories, registration forms, citizenship statements and related paperwork.

The Imperial County Registrar of Voters informed inewsource that her office also received a federal subpoena for voter files and a summons from the Department of Homeland Security this year, after receiving none in the previous three years.

These steps point to a broad review of county voter files by Department of Justice prosecutors in Southern California. The local activity aligns with a nationwide push by the DOJ to require California to examine its voter lists for possible noncitizen voters, which led to the U.S. attorney general filing suit against the state on Thursday.

Reporting from the Los Angeles Times and CalMatters has indicated that the Central District of California has likewise issued subpoenas for voter data to registrars in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Phillip Talbert, a former U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of California, described the pattern as coordinated.

"It appears to me that there is a coordinated effort, one, to try to get the state of California to comply with the department request that it review its voter rolls and remove people who are noncitizens, and then limit the ability of people who are likely noncitizens, essentially prevent their votes from counting," he said. "Here, it seems like they are trying to find legitimate cases of voter fraud that they can indict, and then show - hey - here are cases of voter fraud we are prosecuting."

President Donald Trump and others in his administration over two terms in the White House have claimed widespread voter fraud for years without producing evidence. These latest federal requests for voter information prompted concern and strong reactions from San Diego County congressional representatives and county supervisors when asked by inewsource.

All five federal subpoenas for the San Diego County Registrar of Voters originated from the Southern District offices in downtown San Diego, led by Adam Gordon, the records indicate. A county spokesperson stated the five subpoenas together sought information on 25 voters.

In San Diego, the first subpoena was issued at the end of May seeking general voting records showing participation or ballots cast in federal elections without specified dates. It specifically requested unredacted records of voter registration, including applications for voter registration and records of voting history.

A July subpoena sought records tied to the November 2024 election, and three September subpoenas requested multiple years of voting records, from five to 15 years, dating back to 2011.

The July subpoena requested the ballot itself.

Two of the September subpoenas seek supporting voting material such as identification documents, utility bills, rental or mortgage records and attestations of citizenship. Those two September subpoenas are the only ones to include a disclaimer instructing the registrar to avoid providing the ballot contents.

The documents, which inewsource requested from the county on Sept. 21, do not reveal the names of voters whose information was sought.

A county spokesperson said it complied with the subpoenas as required by law. A statement said, "No ballots were produced, nor was any record disclosed that could indicate how any person voted - not in response to the July 14 subpoena, nor in response to any other subpoena. The County does not maintain records that can link a voter to their ballot, and both state and federal law prohibit releasing any information that would reveal voter selections."

The Imperial County Registrar of Voters Linsey Dale told inewsource that the office received requests for information about four voters and would provide all information as allowed by law in response to the subpoenas.

"The Registrar of Voters has no ability to prove residency of a voter and must rely on the California Secretary of State for verification," she said. "If a voter signs the affirmation contained in the voter registration document that they are a U.S. Citizen, as the Registrar of Voters I must consider this to be the truth unless alternative documentation proves otherwise."

Southern District spokesperson Kelly Thornton said that the U.S. Attorney Office had not filed any voter fraud cases this year as of the beginning of October. The last subpoena sent to San Diego County voting officials ordered a court appearance by Oct. 1.

The Southern District did not respond to a request for comment on the subpoenas.

A 48-hour deadline

On Thursday, the Trump administration sued the state of California, its secretary of state and a Los Angeles County official for failing to meet a 48-hour deadline to review 20,000 voter records to verify citizenship and potentially exclude them from the voting tally.

The unprecedented federal intervention in a national election came nearly two weeks - 10 days after ballots had been sent to California voters.

The Department of Homeland Security alleged in July there were as many as 190,000 noncitizens registered to vote in California, without providing evidence. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded by requesting more information in order to be able to verify the claims.

That information arrived Tuesday, over three months later, on a thumb drive in an envelope with a password attached on a sticky note and letter imposing the 48-hour deadline.

"The USDOJ relentless efforts to unlawfully gain access to states protected voter data and purge voter rolls serve only to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections," Weber, a former school board member and state Assemblymember from San Diego, said in a press release.

"California has robust state law requirements that only U.S. citizens can register to vote and that any non-eligible registrants are removed from the State voter rolls."

The Los Angeles County registrar also received the list of alleged noncitizen voters and the letter.

Talbert, the former U.S. attorney in California, said the process seemed backwards.

"They are asking California to determine citizenship," he said. "The federal government should be the one who knows the citizenship."

The San Diego County Registrar of Voters Office told inewsource that it received no such letter.

Spokeswoman Antonia Hutzel said in a statement that, "The Registrar follows all federal and state laws regarding voter eligibility, and any action to remove a voter must be based on verifiable information - not assertions rooted in unconfirmed data matching."

She added, "Maintaining accurate voter rolls is an ongoing process governed by law and is a core responsibility of the Registrar office."

She also emphasized that, "elections in San Diego County remain safe and secure."

It is unclear how many San Diego County voters are on the Justice Department list. The citation in the Justice Department lawsuit against California of nearly 20,000 likely noncitizens is about a tenth of the figure it announced three months earlier.

David Becker, a former Justice Department attorney who is now executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research in Washington, D.C., said he expects the list of suspected non-citizen voters to be rife with errors.

"DHS has a very poor record of identifying non-citizens," he said at a Thursday press briefing. "It has a very poor record of publicly overstating the number of non-citizens on a list and then later admitting they do not have very many. And now DHS and DOJ have a record of waiting inexplicably for three months before coming clean with California as to any potential non-citizens on the voter list."

The Trump administration claims of widespread noncitizen voting have repeatedly failed under scrutiny in other states. In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said as many as 256,000 noncitizens were registered to vote in California, New Jersey, Nevada and Pennsylvania. Within a month, federal officials told Pennsylvania they did not have high confidence in a count of 14,576 for that state, and told Nevada they had identified only 185 of the nearly 16,000 people they had flagged. Nevada officials later said all of those 185 were citizens, which DHS disputes.

A state-by-state review by the Center for Election Innovation and Research found the same pattern - extremely small numbers of noncitizens registering to vote and even fewer voting.