The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a lawsuit against Orange County and its Registrar of Voters, Bob Page, for allegedly failing to provide unredacted records related to the removal of non-citizens from voter registration lists. The DOJ claims this violates the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), a 2002 law aimed at reforming voting processes.
The lawsuit follows a DOJ investigation into whether non-citizens were registered or received mail ballots in Orange County. The DOJ requested detailed documentation of all voter registrations canceled due to non-citizen status since 2020. In response, Page provided records on 17 such cases, but redacted sensitive personal information like Social Security numbers and state ID numbers, citing California privacy laws. The DOJ insists these redactions hinder compliance checks with HAVA and that federal law preempts state privacy statutes.
Orange County officials offered to cooperate by entering into a confidentiality agreement to protect sensitive data, but the DOJ rejected this proposal. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon emphasized the importance of removing non-citizens from voter rolls to ensure election integrity.
The lawsuit also follows a March 25 executive order from President Donald Trump, which calls for proof of citizenship for voter registration and increased scrutiny of voter lists. Critics argue this order aims to suppress legitimate voters, as non-citizen voting is rare.
Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner urged compliance with federal requests to avoid the lawsuit, while Vice Chair Katrina Foley assured that voting in Orange County remains secure, with only 17 ineligible voters identified among nearly 1.9 million registered voters.
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