Napa Registrar Tuteur Refuses Federal Demand on 42 Listed Voters

Napa County Registrar of Voters John Tuteur confirmed Tuesday that he has taken no action—and does not plan to respond—after two uniformed Department of Homeland Security officers walked into his office late Friday afternoon with a U.S. Department of Justice letter giving him 48 hours to segregate ballots and turn over confidential records for 42 individuals, according to Patch Napa Valley and CalMatters / The Almanac.

42 Names Out of 86,000 Registered Napa County Voters

In Napa County, which has approximately 86,000 registered voters and had already received roughly 11,000 returned mail-in ballots ahead of the Nov. 3 election, the Justice Department letter demanded that Tuteur verify the citizenship of 42 listed individuals, set aside any ballots they cast, and surrender nonpublic Social Security numbers, driver’s license records, and voter registration applications under threat of criminal prosecution.

Tuteur told The Associated Press and Patch Napa Valley reporter Angela Woodall that he has taken no action on the demand and will not respond, pointing to an Oct. 24 legal advisory from the California Secretary of State’s office warning county registrars that withholding ballots based on unsubstantiated claims violates state and federal election protections, including the federal 90-day ban on systematic voter roll removals before an election.

“Voter intimidation is another big reason,” Tuteur said of the federal letters delivered across California days before the election.

Misdelivered Orange County List and Jumbled Spreadsheets Across California

According to CalMatters, the Friday deliveries followed an Oct. 15 lawsuit filed by First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli and the Justice Department against California and Los Angeles County seeking to block election officials from counting ballots from a statewide list of roughly 20,000 people. After holding a rare Sunday hearing, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals voted 2-1 on Monday to deny the federal government’s emergency motion for a preliminary injunction.

Across California, local election officials who examined their county lists found basic delivery errors, illegible printouts, and outdated records:

• Orange County (1,754 Names Misdelivered to the Wrong Official): Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page did not receive his county’s list of 1,754 names until Monday because federal agents initially delivered the letter on Friday to Orange County Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen—whose office records property deeds and marriage licenses and does not run elections.
• Butte County (32 of 47 Not on Active Rolls): Butte County Clerk-Recorder Keaton Denlay said his list looked like “a print screen of a poorly formatted excel spreadsheet with missing and jumbled information.” Of the 47 people listed, 32 were not on Butte County’s active voter rolls and 7 lacked dates of birth, driver’s license numbers, or full addresses needed to match any voter.
• Fresno and San Benito Counties: Fresno County Registrar of Voters James Kus said the printed list delivered to his office in tiny font was “not particularly legible,” while San Benito County Registrar of Voters Francisco Diaz—who received 33 names delivered by armed federal agents—said hand-delivering a 48-hour demand does not override California law.
• Los Angeles County Audit & Jury Form Flaws: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean C. Logan and the Secretary of State’s office reported that in a sample of the federal list, fewer than half had active registrations, more than 40% had canceled registrations, nearly three-quarters had never voted, and more than one-third of those with listed birthplaces were born in the United States. David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, noted that federal lists relying on years-old jury duty excuse forms repeatedly sweep in immigrants who have since naturalized as U.S. citizens.