A lawsuit filed against California Secretary of State Shirley Weber is drawing renewed attention to voter registration practices in the nation’s most populous state.
The lawsuit was filed in federal court by Don Wagner, a Republican candidate for secretary of state, along with the American Independent Party of California. The case was filed with assistance from Judicial Watch.
Plaintiffs allege that California has failed to properly remove approximately 873,092 inactive voter registrations from its voter rolls as required under federal law.
According to the complaint, many of these registrations have remained on the rolls despite voters allegedly failing to participate in multiple consecutive federal elections and not responding to address-verification notices.
The lawsuit argues that these registrations should have been removed under requirements established by the National Voter Registration Act, commonly known as the Motor Voter law.
Court filings cited in the complaint claim that more than 873,000 voter registrations remained inactive through at least three consecutive federal election cycles.
The lawsuit further alleges that more than 151,000 registrations remained on voter rolls after four consecutive federal election cycles without participation.
California maintains the largest voter registration system in the United States, with more than 23 million registered voters.
Supporters of the lawsuit argue that maintaining accurate voter rolls is important for election administration, public confidence and preventing duplicate or outdated registrations from remaining in the system.
The complaint also points to previous concerns involving voter registration maintenance.
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 voter registrations.
Plaintiffs contend that despite those earlier efforts, voter-roll maintenance problems continue to exist throughout the state.
According to the lawsuit, 20 California counties reportedly removed 50 or fewer inactive registrations during a recent review period despite significant migration and population changes.
California election officials have consistently defended the state’s election system and argued that numerous safeguards already exist to prevent illegal voting.
State officials have pointed to signature verification procedures, voter-registration checks, ballot-tracking systems and criminal penalties for election fraud as protections designed to maintain election integrity.
The lawsuit does not allege that the inactive registrations were used to cast illegal ballots.
Instead, plaintiffs argue that keeping outdated registrations on voter rolls violates federal maintenance requirements and creates vulnerabilities within the system.
The legal challenge seeks a court order requiring California to adopt more aggressive voter-roll maintenance procedures and remove registrations that allegedly no longer meet federal standards, per the Conservative Brief.
The lawsuit arrives amid continued national debate over election administration and voter-roll management.
Recent election-related incidents in California have also generated attention, including reports of damaged ballots after a ballot drop box was set on fire and another incident involving an unsecured voting location.
The case will now proceed through federal court, where judges will determine whether California’s voter-registration practices comply with federal law and whether any changes to voter-roll maintenance procedures are required.
