While the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration’s attempt to make mail-in voting more difficult ahead of the November midterm elections, the president and his allies still continue to investigate unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter fraud, in particular looking for noncitizen voters, by filing subpoenas for voter information.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed lawsuits against 30 states, including California, to obtain voter roll information. When that didn’t work, they started subpoenaing individual counties.
The Los Angeles Times reported this week that the L.A. Country registrar’s office received at least three subpoenas for voter information this year, including one from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, which covers San Diego and Imperial counties.
I saw that news and quickly reached out to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters to ask if it had received federal subpoenas for voter information. The office replied that it “does, at times, receive subpoenas seeking individual voter records.”
The statement from the office went on: “When legally required, the County complies with these requests. The ROV is not informed of the nature or scope of the related investigations, and there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in San Diego County.”
So has it received federal subpoenas for voter information? I’ll take that as a yes.
The Southern District U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on whether it has filed subpoenas or is investigating voter fraud in San Diego County.
I’ll share more information on this issue as it becomes available. My line is always open on Signal, 619-554-804.
Correction, 1:32 pm, Sept. 24: An earlier version of this note incorrectly stated that the county denied a public records request for communications seeking voter information.