The Trump administration's Justice Department filed suit against California on Thursday, claiming the state has been mailing ballots to more than 20,000 noncitizens, according to CBS News reporting of the filing.
CNN reported that the lawsuit followed California's refusal to open a thumb drive said to contain records of alleged noncitizens, a step the network described as a long shot in the administration's wider fight over mail-in voting.
The case lands in a state that mails a ballot to every registered voter, and where eligibility checks at registration are the central legal question the court will be asked to weigh.
California officials have defended the state's voter-roll practices in past disputes. OTMedia will update this story with the state's formal response to Thursday's filing when it is issued.
