LOS ANGELES (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice has threatened California with possible legal action over what it says are noncitizens believed to have received mail ballots for next month’s midterm elections.
A letter sent Tuesday to Secretary of State Shirley Weber from Trent McCotter, the acting deputy U.S. attorney general, says the department has provided officials in Los Angeles County with a password-protected thumb drive with a list of names the federal government believes are likely noncitizens who were sent ballots to participate in the Nov. 3 election.
California mails ballots to all registered voters.
The letter obtained by The Associated Press gives the state 48 hours to determine whether any citizens are included on the list. For individuals whose citizenship cannot be independently verified, the state is to instruct local election officials to segregate their mail-in ballots until their status can be determined, and to not provide a ballot to anyone who has not yet received it. The letters warns that legal action may follow if the state does not meet the 48-hour deadline to review the list.
“If you cannot implement this process by then, given the ongoing federal election, the United States will have no choice but to seek emergency relief,” the letter states.
A separate, similar letter was sent to the registrar's office in Los Angeles County, which the U.S. attorney's office had investigated during the state's June primary.
Neither the California secretary of state nor the Los Angeles County registrar immediately responded to requests seeking comment.
The Trump administration has made the hunt for noncitizen voters a priority this year, even though the problem is exceptionally rare. The Justice Department has charged about 90 people for various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens. There were more than 227 million registered voters in the United States during the 2024 presidential election.
In July, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin sent letters to California, Nevada, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, alleging that as many as 250,000 noncitizens were registered in those states. Election officials there were skeptical of the claim, including Weber, the California secretary of state.
“I have serious doubts about the reliability of your data and accuracy of your claims, since my office has not shared our statewide voter registration list with DHS or any other federal agency or official,” Weber said in response.
That same month, the Republican administration claimed Nevada had 1,500 noncitizen voters on its voter rolls. But after the federal government identified them to the state, the number of actual registered noncitizens turned out to be zero.
As part of its project to find noncitizens on the voter rolls, the Justice Department has been seeking detailed voter information — including dates of birth, addresses, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers — from the states. Some Republican-led states have turned over the information, which has been run through a U.S. Department of Homeland Security database that has been criticized as inaccurately flagging U.S. citizens.
The Justice Department has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for that information, but so far has lost those cases in court. California is among the states that successfully sued, in part by arguing that turning over the data would violate state privacy laws.
Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber, who is president of the California Association of Clerks and Election Officials, said she had not seen the letters but said the 48-hour deadline to vet voters flagged by the federal government was “completely unreasonable.”
She said when there is a report of an ineligible voter incorrectly on the rolls, her office does due diligence to investigate. That involves looking at the voter’s registration history, identifying whether that person had voted before and, most importantly, reaching out to the voter, she said.
“It would take more than 48 hours to even begin to get the full picture,” Webber said. She also questioned how the federal government came up with a list of alleged noncitizen voters since it doesn’t have access to the state's detailed voter information.
Webber added that throughout the course of her decades-long career working for local election agencies, she has “never seen anything that would make me believe that our voter records are filled with fraudulent voters.”
FILE - The U.S. Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium before a news conference, May 4, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - The U.S. Department of Justice logo is seen on a podium before a press conference, May 6, 2025, at the Justice Department in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
The horrific death of a man who was ejected from a Six Flags roller coaster in Georgia is drawing attention to the safety of amusement park rides that have become increasingly faster and steeper in their quest for the biggest thrill.
Deaths on roller coasters are still extremely rare, and Georgia officials have said little about what happened Monday when Hassan Jihad Ibn Kariem, a 42-year-old school employee from Atlanta, was thrown from his seat while riding the Goliath at Six Flags Over Georgia before striking other patrons and then landing below the ride.
Goliath uses a sheer drop from 200 feet (61 meters) to reach top speeds of 70 mph (112 kph). It focuses on velocity and downhill plunges rather than turning riders upside down through loops or corkscrews. It has operated at the park for two decades.
Six Flags temporarily closed nine similar coasters across North America following the death, saying it was doing so out of an abundance of caution.
Ride manufacturer Bolliger & Mabillard said it is “actively investigating the incident and will not comment further until we have a better understanding of what happened.”
In the U.S., roller coasters and other rides at major amusement parks such as Six Flags are not regulated by the federal government. That responsibility falls to states.
Some say this has led to an inconsistent patchwork of rules where some states have strict regulations and others have little to no oversight.
U.S. Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts has repeatedly introduced legislation to close what he calls a “loophole” in federal law that allows U.S. safety officials to regulate mobile rides but prevents the Consumer Product Safety Commission from overseeing stationary rides like those at major amusement parks.
Brian Avery, a University of Florida professor and amusement ride safety expert, agrees that more federal regulations are needed.
“Who’s watching those in these organizations to ensure that they are adequately trained, that they are compliant, that they are monitoring these rides to the level which the standards have established?” Avery said.
Georgia’s Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner, which oversees annual ride inspections in the state, is “conducting an in‑depth and comprehensive review” of what happened Monday at Six Flags, said Garrison Bennett, a spokesperson.
Amusement park operators worldwide generally adhere to what are known as ASTM standards set by industry experts, which cover everything from ride design and construction to how much acceleration and force each rider is allowed to experience.
The industry has multiple layers of inspection, said Dennis Speigel, a theme park consultant and past president of the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, a trade group. Park operators are under pressure from insurance carriers that could face a hefty payout if something goes wrong.
“With the checks and balances that are put in place, theme parks are really one of the safest places to be on the planet,” he said in a phone interview Tuesday.
In 2024, the rate of serious and reportable injuries per million roller coaster rides was 1.27, according to the trade group. For all amusement park rides, “guest behavior” contributed to 66% of the injuries that year, with 9% attributable to operational factors and 15% to technical factors, the group said.
Jakob Wahl, the trade group's current president, extended condolences to Kariem's family in a statement on Wednesday.
Martin Lewison, a roller coaster expert and a professor at Farmingdale State College, said it was difficult to imagine there being a mechanical malfunction on a roller coaster such as Goliath because of its design.
The ride features a pull-down lap restraint called a “clamshell” that works with a ratchet mechanism that makes clicking sounds as you press it down over your hips. They have multiple disks to ensure redundancy if one fails, Lewison said.
“They’re dependable. They’re not so technically advanced that theme parks have difficulty with operations,” Lewison said.
The operator then has a safety system that displays a green “go” light for every seat on the train before it can be dispatched. The train should theoretically not be allowed to proceed unless all restraints are locked, Lewison said.
But few things are 100% safe.
In 2022, a 14-year-old Missouri boy fell to his death from an Orlando amusement park ride when the harness didn't lock properly due to his size. In 2013, a 52-year-old Dallas woman was killed when she slipped out of her seat on the Texas Giant ride at Six Flags Over Texas. Six Flags has since added redesigned restraint-bar pads, seat belts and a coaster seat at the ride’s entrance so guests can check whether they fit safely into the cars before getting on.
Nick Mendenhall, who has been on the Goliath more than a dozen times in recent weeks and witnessed Monday's death, said he saw Six Flags staff check the restraints each time he rode it.
“There are two employees, one on either side of the train, and with their hands they push down and they make sure it locks every time. I’ve never seen them not do it,” Mendenhall said.
In California, the state Department of Industrial Relations approves new rides and rides that have been modified. State officials either directly inspect them and how they are being operated each year or rely on an annual inspection by the owner, according to the department's website.
Florida’s largest theme parks, on the other hand, are exempt from state safety inspections, unlike smaller venues and fairs. Instead, the largest theme parks like Walt Disney World and Universal conduct their own inspections and have their own protocols, but they must report to the state any injury or death. Texas, similarly, relies on inspections carried out by private inspectors hired by park operators or their insurance companies.
Arizona, where Six Flags Hurricane Harbor Phoenix is located, does not have a state-level agency that regulates amusement park rides or conducts safety inspections at all. The law requires an annual private inspection, with enforcement largely by local government.
This story has been updated to correct the name of a roller coaster expert to Martin Lewison, not Lewinson.
A roller coaster is shown at Six Flags over Georgia on Monday, Oct. 12, 2026, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta. (AP Photo/Emilie Megnien) Correction changes location to outside Atlanta.
FILE - This aerial view shows the X2 roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, Calif., on Sept. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
Attractions are seen near Interstate-20 at Six Flags Over Georgia, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
Attractions are seen at Six Flags Over Georgia, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northwest of Atlanta, Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)
