Michael Castillo

Judicial Watch Sues California to Clean Up 873,000 Inactive Voter Registrations on Rolls (Washington, DC) – @JudicialWatch announced today it filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a California political candidate and a state political party against the State of California due to its failure to maintain accurate voter rolls as required by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) (Don Wagner et al. v. Shirley N. Weber, in her official capacity as California Secretary of State (No. 8:26-cv-01263)). Federal law requires most inactive voter registrations to be removed after two general federal elections. The new federal lawsuit alleges, based on admissions in prior Judicial Watch litigation, that 873,092 voter registrations have remained continuously inactive for at least three federal elections, and some for much longer. Of these registrations, 326,808 have remained continuously inactive through at least three consecutive federal general elections, while 151,202 have remained inactive through at least four consecutive federal general elections. In addition, 33,922 voter registrations have remained continuously inactive through at least five consecutive federal general elections — dating back at least ten years, to before the November 5, 2016, presidential election. Under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA), states are required to make reasonable efforts to remove ineligible voters from the voter rolls, including those who have died or moved. The lawsuit also alleges, again citing admissions by California officials, that the state takes no effective action to require counties to comply with the NVRA. As a result, they do not comply. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Don Wagner, an elected member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors and candidate for California Secretary of State, and the American Independent Party of California. In June 2025, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC), as required by law, issued a report to Congress on states’ NVRA compliance. Citing this report, Judicial Watch points out that 20 California counties removed 50 or fewer inactive voters from their rolls between November 2022 and November 2024. Ten of these counties reported zero removals of inactives under the relevant statute during that time period. These include Alpine, Imperial, Inyo, Kings, Mariposa, Mendocino, Plumas, San Bernardino, Tehama, and Trinity. Counties reporting 50 or fewer removals include Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Santa Cruz, Siskiyou, Sonoma, and Tuolumne. Judicial Watch argues: The 20 counties reporting zero to 50 registrations pursuant to NVRA Section 8(d)(1)(B) during the period from November 2022 to November 2024 reported a combined total of 3,440,358 voter registrations to the EAC. Yet these 20 counties reported removing a grand total of just 218 registrations under that provision during that period. For context, Judicial Watch points out that San Diego County, with 2.2 million registered voters, removed over 300,000 voter registrations under that statute during the same time period. Currently, over 23 million Californians are registered to vote. Additionally, Judicial Watch states that Census Bureau data shows: 660,000 California residents moved out of state in 2024;690,000 in 2023; and 818,000 in 2022. Judicial Watch points out that if California “was actually conducting a general program that makes a reasonable effort to cancel the registrations of voters who have become ineligible because of a change of residence, it would not be possible” for these counties to cancel so few registrations under the NVRA in a two-year period.” The lawsuit also notes that “comparing the total number of voter registrations reported to the EAC in each California county to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent five-year estimates of voting-age citizenry indicates that 18 California counties have more voter registrations than citizens over the age of eighteen.” In March 2019, the State of California and Los Angeles County settled a December 2017 lawsuit with Judicial Watch that resulted in the removal of more than 1.2 million names from voter rolls. “Judicial Watch’s federal lawsuit confirms California has a dirty voting rolls crisis – with thousands of old names on the rolls going back at least 10 years,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections. And California and its counties must take immediate steps to clean the over 870,000 dirty names on the voting lists.”