Justice Department demands California review list of suspected noncitizens who are on voter rolls

The Justice Department is demanding California election officials review a list of registered voters who are suspected to be noncitizens, and threatening to sue if California doesn't comply. 

In a letter sent Tuesday by acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter and addressed to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, the DOJ gave the officials 48 hours to comply, Reuters reported. 

The letter states that the DOJ provided officials in Los Angeles County with a "password-protected thumb drive" containing a list of names the DOJ suspects are "likely noncitizens" who were sent mail-in ballots. 

The letter demands that the state not send ballots to anyone on the list until their citizenship has been confirmed. For registered voters on the list who have been sent ballots, the DOJ wants their ballots "segregated" once they're sent back. Those ballots shouldn't be counted, the letter explains, until citizenship has been confirmed. 

Should state officials fail to comply within 48 hours, the letter warns, the federal government "will have no choice but to seek emergency relief."