A new lawsuit filed against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber is reigniting concerns about election integrity in the nation’s largest state.
The plaintiffs are alleging that hundreds of thousands of inactive voter registrations remain on California’s voter rolls in violation of federal law.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court by Orange County Supervisor and Republican Secretary of State candidate Don Wagner alongside the American Independent Party of California.
The lawsuit claims that California has failed to remove approximately 873,092 inactive voter registrations despite legal requirements mandating voter roll maintenance.
The complaint was filed with the assistance of Judicial Watch, a conservative government watchdog organization that has previously challenged voter registration practices in several states.
According to the lawsuit, federal law requires states to remove certain inactive voter registrations after voters fail to participate in multiple consecutive federal election cycles and fail to respond to address verification notices.
The plaintiffs allege California has not properly enforced those requirements.
Court filings claim that more than 873,000 voter registrations have remained on the rolls despite being inactive through at least three consecutive federal elections.
Even more concerning, according to the lawsuit, over 151,000 registrations allegedly remained active after four consecutive election cycles without participation.
The legal challenge argues that California’s current practices violate the National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as the “Motor Voter” law, which establishes standards for maintaining accurate voter registration lists.
California currently has well over 23 million registered voters, making it the largest voter registration system in the country.
The lawsuit is not the first time California’s voter rolls have come under scrutiny.
In 2019, Judicial Watch reached a settlement with California and Los Angeles County that resulted in the removal of more than 1.2 million inactive names from voter registration lists.
Plaintiffs argue that despite those previous efforts, issues with maintaining voter rolls persist across much of the state.
According to the complaint, 20 California counties reportedly removed 50 or fewer inactive registrations over a recent period, despite significant population shifts and census data showing substantial migration out of California.
Supporters of the lawsuit argue that maintaining accurate voter rolls is essential for public confidence in elections and helps prevent opportunities for fraud, duplicate registrations, and administrative errors.
Election integrity advocates have long argued that outdated voter registrations can create vulnerabilities within the election system, even if those registrations are not actively used to cast ballots.
California officials, however, have consistently maintained that the state’s election system is secure and employs multiple safeguards designed to prevent illegal voting.
State Democrats and election administrators have repeatedly pointed to verification procedures, signature matching requirements, voter identification checks, and criminal penalties for election fraud as evidence that California’s elections remain secure despite criticism from opponents.
The lawsuit seeks a court order compelling California to implement a more aggressive voter-roll maintenance program and remove registrations that allegedly no longer meet federal eligibility requirements.
The filing also seeks to prevent what plaintiffs describe as future violations of federal election law.
The legal battle arrives amid renewed national attention on election procedures following recent Supreme Court rulings involving voting rights and election administration.
It also comes during a politically charged election season in California, where voters are already heading to the polls for key primary contests.
Questions about election security gained additional attention recently after reports of several election-related incidents across the state.
Officials recently confirmed that mail ballots were damaged after a ballot drop box was vandalized and set on fire.
In a separate incident, a Bay Area voter reportedly discovered a ballot center unsecured after arriving to vote outside normal operating hours.
The case will now move through federal court, where judges will determine whether California’s voter registration practices comply with federal law and whether the state must make changes to its voter roll maintenance procedures before future elections.