Ranking Members Morelle, Padilla Condemn the Department of Justice for Meddling in California’s Elections

ROCHESTER, NY – Today, Ranking Member Joe Morelle (NY-25), the top Democrat on the Committee on House Administration, and Senator Alex Padilla (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules, sent a letter to R. Trent McCotter, Acting Deputy Attorney General, after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sued California’s Secretary of State and Los Angeles County’s Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk with no legal basis or evidence to prevent them from calculating ballots sent to a list of alleged ineligible voters. In fact, similar claims from the Trump administration have proven false in the past.

“The Department must serve the interests of Americans, not operate at the personal and political direction of the president or to advance the partisan interests of a political party,” the Members wrote.

The DOJ itself has admitted that alleged noncitizen lists fabricated by the Trump administration are unreliable. And while the DOJ’s allegations are entirely speculative, their effect would create burdens on California in the middle of an ongoing election. The DOJ’s intent is clear – undermining public confidence in the outcome of California’s elections to further President Trump’s baseless feud with a state that has rejected him three times.

The Members continued, “This is the second time in less than four months that the Department has responded to the President’s public demands to interfere in an ongoing election in California, and it is a blatant misuse of the Department’s resources and abuse of the Department’s authority . . . The Department’s attempt to disenfranchise thousands of American voters en masse, based on no evidence of any individual’s ineligibility, is a clear violation of Californians’ federal constitutional right to vote. The right to vote, of course, is also enshrined in the Constitution of California.”

As Ranking Member of the committee with jurisdiction over federal elections, Congressman Morelle has led House Democrats’ election security work on behalf of Leader Hakeem Jeffries. He has travelled the country, convening voter protection shadow hearings, working with state and local election officials, and is preparing for threats ranging from federal interference and voter data misuse to intimidation at the polls.

Read the full letter here.
 

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