Judge questions doj's claims of noncitizens on California voter rolls

🗞️ Story file #897

Judge questions doj's claims of noncitizens on California voter rolls

Oct 23, 9 PM ET to Oct 28, 6 AM ET · 1 outlet not rated for lean

18outlets carried it
🫏7 · 3 · 7🐘left · center · right
4.4 dayson the front pages
15front pages at once, at its peak
8 minof TV captions
14radio newscasts
42people retold it online
5 of 7parts of a saga

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

Oct 23, 9 PM ETfirst on a front page: Red State
Oct 24, 12 AM ETfirst on TV: CNN
Oct 24, 11 AM ETfirst on the radio: NPR News Now
Oct 25, 10 AM ETpeak: on 15 front pages
Oct 26, 8 AM ETretold online by 42 people

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Front pages carrying it at each hourly run, Oct 23, 9 PM to Oct 28, 6 AM ET (peak 13), by the outlets' lean: left · center · right · not rated

Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

📡 wire copy: 1 outlet ran the AP, Reuters headline nearly word for word (New York Times)

📌 linked by aggregators: Google News

💬 quoted: “Noncitizen” “likely” “This is not normal”

🗣️ only one side says: 🫏 california counties 🫏 aside ballots

✏️ 6 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)

New York Times (2 wordings): “Justice Dept. Demands That California Counties Help Identify Noncitizen Voters” → “Judge Questions Trump Administration’s Need to Target Noncitizen Voters”
Red State (3 wordings): “NEW: DOJ Moves to Bypass Federal Judge in CA Mail Ballot Case, Files Emergency Motion at 9th Circuit” → “UPDATE: 9th Circuit Orders CA to Respond to DOJ's Emergency Motion in Alleged Noncitizen Ballot Case Jennifer Van Laar”
Reuters (6 wordings): “Justice Department asks appeals court to intervene in California ballot case” → “Judge skeptical of Justice Dept lawsuit over alleged noncitizens on voting rolls”
The Daily Signal (2 wordings): “EXCLUSIVE: What Did California Do With DOJ’s List of 20,000 Potential Noncitizens? Election Integrity Group Seeks Records” → “California’s 20,000-Ballot Fight: Judges Press DOJ Over Suspected Noncitizen Voters”
The Gateway Pundit (2 wordings): “DOJ Rushes to Block California From Counting 20,000 Ballots Tied to Suspected Noncitizens Before Votes Are Mixed Forever” → “Clinton Judge Issues Warning to DOJ During Hearing on Effort to Force California to Remove 20,000 Ballots Mailed to Non-Citizens”
The Hill (2 wordings): “DOJ asks appeals court to intervene for California mail-in ballot lawsuit” → “DOJ demands California counties identify noncitizen voters: Reports”

Every outlet's first headline (18), left to right by AllSides rating

HuffPost Judge Hears DOJ Suit Claiming Noncitizens On California Voter Rolls Oct 27, 9 PM ET
AP Special master could evaluate Justice Department's claims of noncitizens on California voter rolls Oct 27, 10 PM ET
CBS News DOJ demands that some California counties set aside alleged noncitizen ballots Oct 24, 12 AM ET
CNN Justice Department orders California counties to set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens Oct 24, 4 AM ET
Los Angeles Times ‘This is not normal’: Feds demand California counties set aside ‘likely’ noncitizen ballots Oct 23, 11 PM ET
New York Times Justice Dept. Demands That California Counties Help Identify Noncitizen Voters Oct 23, 11 PM ET
PBS NewsHour DOJ orders some California counties to set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens Oct 24, 11 AM ET
Reuters Justice Department asks appeals court to intervene in California ballot case Oct 23, 1 AM ET
Straight Arrow News DOJ asks appeals court to block California from counting thousands of mail-in ballots Oct 23, 9 AM ET
The Hill DOJ asks appeals court to intervene for California mail-in ballot lawsuit Oct 23, 12 AM ET
The Epoch Times DOJ Seeks Appeals Court Intervention in California Ballot Lawsuit Oct 23, 6 AM ET
Fox News California ordered to immediately respond to DOJ's noncitizen ballot plea Oct 24, 6 AM ET
New York Post Feds move to halt ballot counting over 20K suspected noncitizen voters Oct 23, 8 PM ET
Newsmax DOJ Seeks Appeal to Block 20K Calif. Voters' Ballots Oct 22, 10 PM ET
Red State NEW: DOJ Moves to Bypass Federal Judge in CA Mail Ballot Case, Files Emergency Motion at 9th Circuit Oct 23, 9 PM ET
The Daily Signal EXCLUSIVE: What Did California Do With DOJ’s List of 20,000 Potential Noncitizens? Election Integrity Group Seeks Records Oct 22, 4 PM ET
The Gateway Pundit DOJ Rushes to Block California From Counting 20,000 Ballots Tied to Suspected Noncitizens Before Votes Are Mixed Forever Oct 24, 11 AM ET
The Washington Sun Trump Administration Again Demands California Perform Voter Roll Checks Oct 24, 8 PM ET

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

📺 On TV

Fox News4 min

CNN3 min

MSNOW82 s

CALIFORNIA'S WEALTH TAX BOOMERANG. NEW STUDY SAYS PROP 40 COULD LOSE REVENUE FOR THE STATE Fox News, 2 min
TRUMP ADMIN WANTS THOUSANDS OF CALIFORNIA VOTES SET ASIDE CNN, 2 min
TRUMP DOJ GOES AFTER BALLOTS IN WASHINGTON STATE MSNOW, 82 s
CALIFORNIA BALLOT BATTLE. STATE RESPONDS TO DOJ EMERGENCY COURT CHALLENGE Fox News, 67 s
JUSTICE DEPT. ORDERS CALIFORNIA TO IDENTIFY SUSPECTED NON-CITIZENS ON VOTER ROLLS, SET ASIDE THEIR MAIL-IN BALLOTS CNN, 29 s
DOJ ORDERS CALIFORNIA TO SET ASIDE BALLOTS FROM SUSPECTED NONCITIZENS CNN, 29 s
GOLDEN STATE PUSHES BACK. CA SAYS FEDS LACK POWER OVER LOCAL ELECTION RULES Fox News, 25 s
GOLDEN STATE PUSHES BACK Fox News, 24 s

📻 On the radio

ABC News Update, Oct 25, 9:32 PM ET: story 3 of 4
ABC News Update, Oct 25, 8:32 PM ET: story 3 of 4
NPR News Now, Oct 25, 8:09 PM ET: the lead
ABC News Update, Oct 25, 7:32 PM ET: story 3 of 3
ABC News Update, Oct 25, 6:32 PM ET: story 2 of 4
ABC News Update, Oct 25, 5:32 AM ET: the lead
ABC News Update, Oct 25, 4:32 AM ET: the lead
ABC News Update, Oct 25, 3:32 AM ET: the lead
ABC News Update, Oct 25, 2:32 AM ET: the lead
ABC News Update, Oct 25, 1:32 AM ET: the lead
ABC News Update, Oct 25, 12:32 AM ET: the lead
ABC News Update, Oct 24, 11:32 PM ET: the lead

what people online made of it

🧩 How it's being told

The stories under this news, from our motif index, and who told each: the shows we follow by their lean, people online, fact-checkers. A story people tell, not a claim that it's true; claims are matched to this story by our tools, so a link can be wrong.

🧩 Second-class citizens 🧶 online
“A birth certificate for someone born in the U.S. makes them an American citizen.”
🧩 Solution in search of a problem 🧶 online
↔️ its answer: Voter fraud
“The Trump administration is using unproven claims of noncitizen voting to attempt to meddle in and sideline ballots in California and Washington.”
🧩 Voter suppression 🧶 online
↔️ its answer: Ballot security, Voter fraud
“The Trump administration is using unproven claims of noncitizen voting to attempt to meddle in and sideline ballots in California and Washington.”

🧶 Retold online

The Trump administration is using unproven claims of noncitizen voting to attempt to meddle in and sideline ballots in California and Washington. Oct 27: told by 35 people (same issue); told before on Oct 28, Oct 18
🦋 Widely seen on Bluesky

🦋 a post on Bluesky · 6 likes, 3 reposts
🦋 a post on Bluesky · 2 likes, 2 reposts
A birth certificate for someone born in the U.S. makes them an American citizen. Oct 26: told by 7 people (same issue)

On Folklore: the latest in full, with their motifs and who is telling them.

🗣️ names in it: Justice Department California 9th Circuit

what the fact-checkers looked into

🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

the running story it belongs to

🧵 California noncitizen ballot dispute

DOJ warns California election officials of legal risks for counting suspected noncitizen ballots
Oct 17, 9 PM ET
DOJ sues California over 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters
Oct 14, 11 AM ET
DOJ charges 28 noncitizens in California voter fraud case
Oct 19, 2 PM ET
Justice Department seeks court order over alleged noncitizen voters in California
Oct 21, 12 PM ET
Judge questions doj's claims of noncitizens on California voter rolls (this story)
Oct 23, 9 PM ET
Appeals court rejects DOJ's bid to set aside California mail ballots
Oct 25, 10 PM ET
DOJ charges 48 noncitizens in election-related crimes
Oct 26, 6 PM ET