California won’t open non-citizen voter list — here’s their excuse

It’s not a tough call. LA County and other California jurisdictions should comply with the Trump administration’s reasonable request to investigate noncitizens on the local voter rolls.

There’s even a flash drive with the information on it, straight from the US Department of Justice.

But California Attorney General Rob Bonta disagrees. He had this to say: “I find it desperate. I find it embarrassing that this administration would engage in such conduct during an election.”

Really, Rob?

Well, this immigrant-turned-naturalized citizen has thoughts as well.

I found it embarrassing that no one ever wanted me to prove who I was in the good old days when Angelenos still voted in neighborhood polling places. 

I find it rather desperate to claim that, although noncitizen voting is a crime, California — home to Silicon Valley and allegedly filled with top thinkers in every field — insists state and local officials can’t open a secure thumb drive with a list of alleged noncitizen voters.

I find it infuriating that the county of my birth, the island nation of Jamaica, is called “Third World” when it is capable of running elections quickly and efficiently. Jamaica also uses indelible ink and voter ID to ensure that no one is double-dipping into the electorate. (Maybe Rob doesn’t know that an estimated 90 counties have used this method.)

I also find it desperate to act as if a targeted, time-sensitive request, which is tied to specific ballots already in the pipeline under our universal mail-in voting system, is somehow akin to the Spanish Inquisition.

The LA registrar-recorder, Dean Logan, also issued a statement, saying, “We have not accessed the drive because doing so would conflict with established data privacy and information security protocols. We do not consider the device a secure medium. … [A]ny action to remove a voter from eligibility must be based on verifiable information, not assertions of unconfirmed data matching.”

Really, Dean? 

Our voter rolls are the fruit of a poisoned tree that starts with giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens, then turns the Department of Motor Vehicles into a machine for automatic voter registration. The risks are compounded by turning government assistance programs — Medi-Cal, CalFresh, CalWORKs, WIC, General Assistance, and Covered California — into designated voter registration agencies. 

We hand out voter registrations like lollipops at the pediatrician’s office.

It’s also hard to take claims about “verifiable information and data privacy” seriously when they come from officials in a state that has tolerated data breaches and widespread fraud.

I’m all for safe and secure elections, and as chairman of the Republican Party of Los Angeles County, this is extra personal to me. 

It’s why I wrote an open letter to Attorney General Bonta, explaining that the mere appearance of shenanigans undermines democracy for all of us. Real investigations — even, and especially, those that reveal there is no problem — is the way to encourage confidence in the system, and voter participation.

It’s also why I enumerated several irregularities from our recent primary in a letter I sent to the Department of Justice asking for election monitors for this election.

People tell me every week that they receive excess ballots, thanks to California’s universal vote-by-mail system. California officials claim that excess ballots are very rare. In fact, they are common. (I always tell voters the same thing — to go directly to the registrar to correct the error.)

I am glad that the Department of Justice wants to clean our voter rolls. Dean Logan should open the drive, perform the review, and hold the questionable ballots as requested. 

That would affirm the integrity of our elections.

Who wouldn’t want that?

Roxanne Hoge is the chairman of the LA Republican Party. You can find her on X at @RoxanneHoge.

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