San Diego County will not set aside 1,709 ballots the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) flagged as belonging to alleged noncitizens, calling the federal demand "a thinly veiled voter purge."

County Counsel Damon Brown delivered that message in a letter Oct. 27 to U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon, who had hand-delivered his own letter Oct. 24 ordering Registrar of Voters Shawn Brom to hold the ballots and turn over voters' Social Security numbers, state IDs and other private records within 48 hours, as first reported by inewsource.

Gordon's letter warned of criminal consequences. "An alien voting in a federal election is a federal crime — and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful," Gordon wrote, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The county did not comply. The 48-hour deadline lapsed Oct. 26.

Brown wrote that the county is "legally prohibited" from handing over confidential voter data without a court order, according to the Times of San Diego. He also threatened legal action "against DOJ for its unlawful intimidation of election officials and California voters."

The county spot-checked a random 10% of the 1,709 names. Brown wrote that 59% of those checked had canceled voter registrations and 74% had no record of voting in San Diego County, according to the Union-Tribune.

"DOJ certainly knows how to obtain a judicial warrant and could have done so if it had a sufficient evidentiary basis for the allegations in the letter," Brown wrote. "But … it is clear that DOJ's lists are deeply flawed."

Federal judge blocks the broader effort

The San Diego dispute is part of a statewide fight. Gordon's letter was one of 57 similar letters the Trump administration sent Oct. 24 to every California county except Los Angeles, which had already received one, the Coast News reported. The administration claims about 20,000 registered California voters are "likely" noncitizens.

On Oct. 28, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter rejected the administration's request to force California to segregate all 20,000 ballots, according to the Sacramento Bee.

"Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch," Carter wrote in his 26-page ruling.

Carter found the government's request "would risk disenfranchising an untold number of voters" based on "unfounded allegations stemming from a procedure rife with uncertainty and errors."

The Trump administration appealed Carter's ruling to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals within hours. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal Essayli said in a statement on X that the ruling allows "ongoing emergency" harm, according to the Bee. The case could reach the U.S. Supreme Court.

A spokesperson for Gordon's office declined to comment Oct. 28 on the counties' responses.

Election Day is Nov. 3. More than 3.5 million mail ballots have already been returned statewide, according to CBS News, citing state data.