Orange County Registrar of Voters Bob Page would have violated state and federal law if he had turned over sensitive personal information of voter registrants to the Department of Justice without a subpoena or court order, attorneys said in response to the federal government’s recent lawsuit.
The Justice Department sued Page last month for allegedly not providing full records related to the removal of non-citizens from voter registration lists. The Justice Department alleged that Page did not maintain an accurate voter list in violation of the Help America Vote Act, a 2002 law that made sweeping reforms to the country’s voting process.
But Page, through the county counsel’s response filed last week, denied those allegations.
The issue stems from information requested by the Justice Department. The federal government’s lawsuit said the attorney general requested on June 2 documents from January 2020 that showed the number of voter registration records in Orange County that have been canceled because the registrant did not meet citizenship requirements and more information about each cancelation, including copies of the application, voting history and related correspondence sent or received by the county registrar related to the registration.
Page responded to the request but redacted certain personal and sensitive information, including driver’s license or state ID numbers, Social Security numbers, language preferences, race and signature images, both the initial lawsuit and the response from county counsel said.
The Justice Department said the redacted data “prohibits the attorney general from making an accurate assessment” of the registrar’s compliance with election laws. It also said Page relied on state law for the basis of the redactions, which it said is preempted by federal law.
But correspondence between representatives for the Justice Department and legal counsel for the registrar’s office — obtained and reviewed by the Southern California News Group — showed there was an effort made by the registrar to provide the “sensitive information,” just in a manner that would include “assurances that such sensitive personal identifiers will remain confidential and be used for government purposes only.”
And Page’s attorneys argued “that the unprotected disclosure of such sensitive personal information without a subpoena or court order is prohibited by California and federal law.”
Page also said, through the filing, that he must comply with regulations promulgated by the California secretary of state, “which establishes standards and procedures for processing, transmitting, and maintaining voter registration records in a manner that conforms with the statewide voter registration system requirements” set by federal and state law.
“California law is very clear about what information election officials can release,” said Jim Patrick, a spokesperson for the California secretary of state’s office.
“California election officials cannot release driver’s license numbers, and our understanding is the DOJ was not willing to work with Orange County to find a solution,” Patrick said. “Bob Page is a dedicated public servant who treats all of his constituents fairly, and he always follows the law to a T.”
Page acknowledged in the filing that U.S. citizenship is a qualification for registering and voting in California, noting that no charter city in Orange County allows non-citizens to vote in local elections.
He stated in the filing that he evaluates voter registrations for eligibility and rejects or cancels those of individuals who do not meet the requirements, including if a registrant cannot certify that they are a U.S. citizen.
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Monday.
But in a statement announcing the lawsuit, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said that “states and counties that refuse to disclose all requested voter information are in violation of well-established federal elections laws.”
“Removal of non-citizens from the state’s voter rolls is critical to ensuring that the state’s voter rolls are accurate and that elections in California are conducted without fraudulent voting,” Dhillon said. “The Department of Justice will hold jurisdictions that refuse to comply with federal voting laws accountable.”
Allegations of non-citizens and dogs receiving ballots
Notably, the Justice Department’s lawsuit is led by Dhillon, the former vice chair of the California Republican Party; Bill Essayli, a U.S. attorney and former Inland state legislator; and Michael Gates, the Huntington Beach city attorney turned deputy assistant attorney general.
And this lawsuit isn’t the first time Gates has questioned Page over the possibility of non-citizens voting.
While still the Huntington Beach city attorney, Gates posted a photo on X of a ballot that he said was mailed to someone who has lived in the U.S. for 10 years but is a non-citizen and has never voted before. The name and most of the Huntington Beach address are blurred out in the photo, which appears to be a mail ballot envelope from the Orange County registrar of voters.
Gates, in the October post, said he reported the ballot to the registrar. It is unclear whether it is the same ballot referenced in the Justice Department’s lawsuit.
Gates also emailed Page twice in October regarding “suspicious” ballots, according to records obtained by the Southern California News Group.
On Oct. 18, Gates told Page he had spoken with someone who said their father-in-law, who is not a U.S. citizen, had received an official ballot in the mail. Gates sent a photo of the ballot and asked if the registrar had any information about that person’s citizenship status and if they were registered to vote.
Page said he forwarded the information to the California secretary of state to investigate. He also provided an application for voter registration information to address his question about whether a specific person is registered to vote.
While the name and address of this ballot were fully redacted, it appears to mirror the one Gates posted on his X account a day after he sent the email to Page. A spokesperson for the secretary of state said they could not comment on the existence of referrals.
Ten days later, Gates reached out with another concern, noting “this one is a little harder to believe.” Gates said someone told him her dog had received an official ballot in Costa Mesa, and he again asked if the registrar had any information about the recipient’s citizenship status and if they were registered to vote.
Page said the concern was forwarded to the district attorney, noting that “it is a felony to knowingly and willfully sign and submit a voter registration affidavit for a nonexistent person, including an animal.” Page again said voter registration information is confidential and only disclosable for certain uses if an application for voter registration information is submitted, and he again provided the application.
Gates never filled out those applications, Page said.
The case of the alleged dog’s ballot is still under investigation, said Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office.
The Justice Department did not respond to a question about whether Gates’ prior questioning of potential non-citizens voting in Orange County could potentially make him a witness in the case.
Gates also did not respond to a text message regarding his involvement in the lawsuit.
Gates, as Huntington Beach’s city attorney, supported the city’s effort to establish its own voter ID law and sued California over sanctuary policies that restrict the use of state and local resources to assist federal immigration enforcement. In announcing his appointment to the Justice Department, Gates vowed Huntington Beach’s fights will not be “lessened or weakened,” adding that the city’s “adversaries” should know, “Huntington Beach will continue to fight aggressively, and the city will ultimately prevail.”
The Justice Department, according to the Washington Post, has been ramping up requests for multiple states’ voter rolls. Those requests have left election officials from both parties concerned about what the federal government plans to do with that information, the Washington Post reported.
It is up to states and local jurisdictions to run the ins and outs of elections. In California, it’s an elected secretary of state who is in charge of overseeing elections, including certifying the lists of who is running for state offices, coordinating tabulation of votes for each county on election night and preparing voter information in various languages, among other things.
Orange County voters chose former Vice President Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump, 49.7% to 47.1%, in the 2024 presidential election. More than 1.4 million people cast a ballot in Orange County in that election.
Staff writer Michael Slaten contributed to this report.