Santa Clara County on Monday said it has informed the U.S. Department of Justice that it will not disclose confidential voter information in response to what the county calls “unsubstantiated allegations” of possible illegal voting by non-citizens.
The county sent separate letters dated Oct 26 from County Executive James R. Williams and County Counsel Tony LoPresti to U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian formally responding to a threatening letter sent Friday by Missakian to county Registrar of Voters Matt Moreles.
In the Oct. 23 letter, Missakian gave Moreles 48 hours to provide detailed confidential information about 902 individuals – unredacted, confidential voter registration information that the Department of Homeland Security alleges are noncitizens. Missakian also demanded that the county segregate and decline to process ballots cast by these individuals “until their citizenship status can be determined” at a later, unspecified time.
He threatened Moreles with criminal prosecution for failing to comply with his letter.
“We consider DOJ’s efforts to threaten California election officials with criminal sanctions for following federal and state law to be an effort to unlawfully intimidate both election officials and California voters,” said LoPresti in his response letter. “The county reserves its rights to pursue all legal remedies against DOJ for its unlawful intimidation of election officials and California voters. The Registrar of Voters will continue to comply with federal and state laws while it conducts free and fair elections in this county.”
Similar letters were sent to other counties in the state, including one with more than 7,000 names to Los Angeles County, which also refused to comply.
“Your letter cites no statutory or other legal authority that would allow the DOJ to direct a county’s administration of ballots,” wrote LoPresti “The opposite is true: DOJ is demanding that the Registrar of Voters engage in an unlawful course of conduct. The Registrar of Voters will not do so. It intends to carry out its constitutional mandate ethically and soundly.”
In a separate strongly worded letter to the U.S. attorney, Williams – a former county counsel – emphasized the constitutional distinctions between federal and state authority.
“Under our nation’s Constitution and California law, the sacred trust to administer elections impartially, fairly, and effectively is entrusted to California’s 58 counties,” said Williams. “It is precisely because of our vigilance and adherence to our duties that we cannot abide by your illegal request to provide confidential voter information or segregate ballots based on unverified allegations. Your spurious threats of criminal and other sanctions to attempt to compel such illegal action are wholly inappropriate and misplaced.”
The federal interventions come on the heels of similar efforts against the State of California and the County of Los Angeles when the federal government demanded that they review a list of approximately 20,000 voters statewide within 48 hours and segregate their ballots. Both the State and Los Angeles County refused, and the DOJ immediately filed suit seeking to compel compliance.
The 902 names sent to Santa Clara County appear to be a subset of that larger list, according to Williams.
The county called the data underlying the DOJ’s allegations “deeply flawed.”
In a Monday press release, the county said Los Angeles County reviewed a sample of names from its list and found that fewer than half had active voter registrations, over 40% had canceled registrations, and nearly three quarters had never voted. Among those with available birthplace information, more than one third were native-born U.S. citizens.
In his letter to Moreles, Missakian claimed that the list “was developed through a multilayered, multiagency investigative methodology at DHS that relied upon internal immigration records, data matching, supervisory verification procedures, and more.”
“The Trump-aligned U.S. Department of Justice’s attempts to interfere in California’s local election administration demand a strong and unequivocal response,” said Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee in a statement on Monday. “This is a fishing expedition built on false claims and fearmongering—an effort to undermine confidence in our elections and obtain confidential voter information without legitimate cause. Santa Clara County will not be bullied into breaking the law or giving credence to this administration’s fake news. We will protect voter privacy, uphold the law, and defend free and fair elections without federal interference.”
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal held a rare Sunday hearing on the DOJ motion for a preliminary injunction in its case against California and Los Angeles County. On Monday, the three-judge panel announced it had voted 2-1 to reject the Trump administration’s unprecedented attempt to force California to set aside votes from 20,000 people it claimed could be noncitizens.
- DOJ Letter 10-23-26
- County Executive letter-to-craig-missakian-re-rov-10-125-26
- County counsel -response-to-doj-letter-10.25.2026.docx
Open insurrection from our County confederates. Hopefully there are criminal charges against County officials. California elections are fraudulent, none of our local elected officials are legitimate, and this obstructionism is part of the desperate coverup.