DOJ Sent Five Grand Jury Subpoenas to San Diego County for Voter Records This Year, Officials Confirm

The U.S. Justice Department issued five grand jury subpoenas to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters this year seeking voter information, county officials confirmed to inewsource, as federal prosecutors pursue what experts describe as an unprecedented nationwide probe of election systems.

County spokesperson Sarah Sweeney and Registrar spokesperson Antonia Hutzell told the nonprofit news outlet that the subpoenas arrived between June 1 and Sept. 16, each requesting "different categories of records" — generally registration records and voting history, not how any individual voted.

"When legally required, the County complies with these requests," Hutzell said. "The ROV is not informed of the nature or scope of the related investigations, and there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in San Diego County."

The San Diego County subpoenas are part of a broader federal push. The Justice Department has filed lawsuits against 30 states — including California — seeking complete statewide voter registration lists. Courts have dismissed 24 of those suits, according to the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.

Wendy Weiser, vice president for democracy at the Brennan Center for Justice, called the subpoenas "highly unusual" and described the nationwide effort as "part of a broader sweeping fishing expedition in order to try to identify and uncover elusive non-citizens who were inappropriately registered to vote."

A Homeland Security Investigations official said last month that the administration's effort to remove noncitizens from voter rolls has led to about 1,600 voter fraud cases and 160 arrests nationwide — out of 211 million active registered voters. A ProPublica analysis of Justice Department data found fewer than 150 suspected noncitizen voters were referred for prosecution from January 2025 through May 2026.

San Diego politicians react

A majority of San Diego County's elected supervisors and members of its congressional delegation reacted to news of the subpoenas, with some calling the federal effort "unprecedented" and "deeply concerning," inewsource reported on Oct. 8.

The county has extended the response deadline for inewsource's public records request for copies of the subpoenas to Oct. 15 as it consults with other agencies.

Broader context

The San Diego subpoenas surfaced the same week the Justice Department sent Los Angeles County a demand letter — accompanied by a password-protected thumb drive — giving officials 48 hours to review a list of alleged noncitizen voters or face "emergency relief" in court. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber pushed back, saying the DOJ did not provide her office the list and calling the demand an effort "to cause chaos and fuel public distrust in our elections."

San Diego County received just one DOJ subpoena for voter records in 2025 and none in 2024 or 2023, according to the Registrar's office.

Early in-person voting for the Nov. 3 general election began Monday at the Registrar's Kearny Mesa office. Mail ballots went out to registered voters earlier this month.