Federal officials sued the Orange County top election official on Wednesday, alleging that the county registrar violated federal law by refusing to disclose details about those who were excluded from voter roles because they were not citizens.
The lawsuit filed in federal court alleges that Orange County Registrar Bob Page “conceals illegal registrations of unqualified non-citizen voters” by withholding sensitive personal information such as Social Security and driver’s licenses.
The 10-page lawsuit does not claim that non-citizens voted in Orange County.
“No-citizen voting is a federal crime,” said Hermet Dillon, Attorney General of the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. “States and counties that refuse to disclose all voter information requested are in violation of established federal election laws.”
The lawsuit stems from a June 2 letter from the Department of Justice to Orange County election officials, seeking information about those who were excluded from the county’s voter role. Federal officials were acting on complaints from non-citizen relatives who received mail-in ballots, according to the lawsuit.
Over the course of five years, Orange County has identified 17 non-citizens who have signed up for the ballot, telling federal agencies in a June 16 letter sent in response to a June 2 request. Those people “self-reported” that they were not citizens or were deemed ineligible by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, Page said.
The registrar sent the names, dates of birth, and addresses of these 17 people to federal officials, but compiled some confidential information, including a scan of Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers, voter identification numbers and signatures, according to a letter from the county attorney.
County attorneys argued that withholding more confidential personal information would disrupt the balance between federal disclosure law and state law, which limits the way election officials share personal information.
Leon Page, a county adviser in Orange County, not affiliated with Bob Page, said that federal officials have not created subpoenas or that they have not identified “substantial legal authority” on why the registrar’s office should disclose sensitive personal information protected by state law.
The county’s attorney also offered to draft a “non-disclosure agreement that restricts disclosure to government purposes,” he said, but the Department of Justice did not respond to the offer.
“Instead, USDOJ filed a lawsuit,” said Leon Page. He said the county hopes to resolve the complaints through a courtroom protection order. Such an order could put Guardrails on how the Department of Justice can use or share information about non-citizens that they have registered for the ballot.
Justin Levitt, an election law expert at Loyola Marymount University Law School and a former voting rights lawyer for the Department of Justice, said the lawsuit was “a little strange” because agencies frequently share information and negotiate and rarely go to court to do so.
He said the Justice Department should be able to see if Orange County has a process that ensures that ineligible people are separated from voter roles by looking at the full names, addresses and birthdays of those removed.
A Social Security number or driver’s license number should not be necessary, he said, raising questions about how the Department of Justice requested information would be used.
Federal law requires election officials to maintain voter information for 22 months after the election, Levitt said. Many officials keep these records longer, but there is no law requiring them to do so. He said he didn’t know the “rights that the federal government has” to request voter information dating back to 2020.
“This is a pretty small controversy with a pretty small stake, beyond a fairly small number of records,” Levitt said. “But that’s another point that’s becoming a rather disturbing set of points in this administration’s data practices.”
“We have placed obstacles and refused to comply,” said Orange County supervisor Don Wagner, one of two Republicans on the five board.
“We invited this lawsuit,” Wagner said. “The county’s only concern is that it has the cleanest possible voter role so that all eligible voters can vote, but only eligible voters can vote.”
Democrat Coach Katrina Foley defended the county’s decision to compile some information, saying the county “takes it very seriously its obligation to protect the personal personal information of those who register to vote in our county.”
“Voters’ privacy is embedded in the system, and state law prohibits counties from providing personal information without a court order,” Foley said. If the Justice Department secures a court order, Foley said, the county would provide the requested information.
Californians must verify their identity when they sign up for the ballot, and that information is cross-referenced with the Automobile Files department. The state also imposes penalties for fraudulent registrations.
Last year in a Reddit Q&A with Orange County registers, Bob Page said that state law would go beyond state verification and prohibit the registrar’s office from verifying someone’s citizenship when registering for a ballot.
He said his office updated its voter registration file daily, making an average of around 60,000 changes each month. His office would contact the Orange County District Attorney or the California Commissioner if evidence of someone illegally registering for the ballot, the Registrar said.
An Orange County spokesperson said that of the 17 people who were registered to vote and who were not eligible for five years, 16 self-reported that they were not citizens.
The District Attorney’s Office found that one person, despite not a citizen, had signed up for the ballot. The Canadian citizen and legal resident pleaded guilty in 2024 to three misdemeanor votes in the 2016 election and general election. He was sentenced to one year of informal probation.
Bob Page did not reply to a message seeking comment on the lawsuit. A spokesman for the registrar’s office said the county has not commented on pending or ongoing lawsuits.
Last year, Santa Ana voters declined any measures to allow non-citizens to vote in their local race. The measure would have allowed city residents to vote on local measures, even citizens, but they are not yet eligible to vote in federal and state elections.
San Francisco has allowed parents of school children to vote in school board races, even citizens. Auckland voters approved the same measure in 2022, but have not yet implemented it.
Some cities in Maryland and Vermont have also moved to allow non-citizens to vote in local elections, but the measure is full of legal challenges.
New York City law that allowed non-citizens to vote was cut off by the state’s Supreme Court in March, finding it violated the state’s constitution.
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