A California county elections official has revealed that federal agents threatened him with criminal prosecution and handed him a disorganized list of names containing significant inaccuracies as part of a Department of Justice campaign alleging voter fraud.
Federal Demands and Flawed Data
Keaton Denlay, the clerk-recorder and registrar of voters for Butte county, stated that a federal agent delivered paperwork on a Friday afternoon that included a Department of Justice demand letter and a printout resembling a poorly formatted spreadsheet. The federal agency claimed the document contained 47 likely noncitizens unlawfully registered to vote and demanded the county segregate their ballots within 48 hours or risk becoming aiders and abettors to a federal crime.
Denlay, speaking to World News | The Guardian, noted that the document failed to match the summary provided in the letter. The two-page attachment consisted of duplicate pages and contained only 46 names, with one entry repeated twice. Out of the 45 distinct names, 32 individuals were not on the county’s active voter rolls and never received ballots, while seven entries lacked sufficient details for cross-referencing.
This left only six names that might potentially be ineligible, according to Denlay. He explained in a public statement that under state law, challengers bear the burden of establishing extraordinary proof of a voter’s lack of eligibility, a threshold he concluded the Department of Justice had failed to meet.
Broader Impact and Official Reactions
The Department of Justice has spent the final weeks of the midterm elections targeting California by alleging that 20,000 voters in the state are likely noncitizens and filing lawsuits to halt the counting of those ballots. State leaders have strongly rejected these claims, arguing that prosecutors are utilizing unreliable data that risks disenfranchising United States citizens and exceeds federal authority.
Eric Grant, the United States attorney for the eastern district of California, signed the letter sent to Denlay. A spokesperson for that office declined to comment on Denlay’s statement, while a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not respond to inquiries.
Other regional officials in California reported experiencing similar pressures. Francisco Diaz, the registrar of voters for San Benito county, stated that his office received a comparable list of 33 names and discovered that several individuals were not currently registered to vote in the county.
Legal experts have characterized the federal threats as intimidation tactics, maintaining that local election leaders acted lawfully by declining to comply with the demands. Denlay stated that he personally reviewed the records to allow his staff to remain focused on the election and emphasized that active voters have met all state and federal eligibility requirements.
Denlay stated he has had no further communication with the Department of Justice and did not receive a digital copy of the spreadsheet.
