_{Thumbnail photo by Heather Polen}

Del Norte County officials are determining the best way to respond to a U.S. Department of Justice demand that they segregate ballots belonging to four “likely aliens” that are among the more than 20,000 in California the agency says are illegally registered to vote.

In his Oct. 23 letter to Del Norte County Clerk Alissia Northrup, Craig H. Missakian, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, asks for the county’s help in identifying the four “likely aliens” by sending a social security number, a copy of their state ID or driver’s license as well as copy of their voter registration application.

Missakian also asks Del Norte County to set aside the ballots those “likely aliens” submit until their citizenship status can be determined.

“If a ballot for any individual on the list has been returned, instruct the appropriate elections official to not process the ballot until citizenship can be determined,” Missakian states. “This process will protect American citizens’ votes while preventing noncitizens from participating in the federal election in violation of federal law.”

On Monday, Northrup said two USDOJ officials paid her office a visit to drop off a package. Northrup sought advice from Del Norte County Counsel Jacqueline Roberts. Roberts said they’re still assessing the situation.

“If we do respond, that document would be a public record,” Roberts told Redwood Voice Community News on Tuesday. “It’s pretty sensitive given it’s across the state — it’s every single county that received it.”

Northrup told Redwood Voice on Monday that the visit from the two DOJ officials was the first time a federal agency visited her office in her four-term career as county clerk. 

Missakian’s letter to Del Norte County comes less than two weeks before the Nov. 3 deadline in the 2026 midterm elections. In it, the U.S. Attorney states that a similar letter was sent to the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters who declined to review the evidence the DOJ presented and declined to segregate the ballots belonging to the individuals in question.

In the letter, Missakian outlines legal consequences for “either facilitating or ignoring federal crimes” stating that anyone who aids, abets, counsels, induces or procures the commission of a federal offense is equally liable.

“If persons knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens, they risk becoming aiders and abetters to a federal crime,” he writes. “Any assertion that ballots must be counted simply because California’s registration system relies on self-attestation of citizenship does not relieve election officials of their obligations under federal law when they are on actual notice of noncitizen voting.”

On Friday, the Los Angeles Times’ Brittny Mejia and Kevin Rector reported that earlier this month the Justice Department sent a letter to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Dean Logan, head of the Los Angeles County registrar’s office, similar letters calling for 20,000 ballots statewide to be segregated until state and local officials can prove the voters are U.S. citizens.

When they refused, the Justice Department sued them and the State of California. 

Mejia and Rector report that a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles said 57 of California’s 58 counties received letters. Los Angeles County is the exception since it already received a notice.

On Sunday, two of three judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals questioned the timing, constitutionality and authority of the Trump administration’s action, the Associated Press reported Monday. 

The administration asked a federal judge to require the state of California to withhold counting ballots until the voters’ immigration status could be verified, the AP reported. The judge scheduled a hearing for Tuesday, but the Trump administration appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals seeking an expedited decision.

One judge, a Trump appointee, questioned if the appellate court had jurisdiction to hear a case before a lower court rules. Another judge, a President Joe Biden appointee, asked if the federal government was violating the Tenth Amendment by requiring the state to enforce a federal law that makes it a misdemeanor for someone who isn’t a U.S. citizen to vote, according to the AP.