Judicial Watch Exposes California’s 873,000 ‘Ghost Voter’ Crisis on Eve of June 2 Primary, Files Federal Lawsuit

As California voters head to the polls tomorrow for the June 2 primary featuring high-stakes races for governor, Los Angeles mayor, and Secretary of State, fresh revelations and a lawsuit from Judicial Watch highlight persistent vulnerabilities in the state’s voter rolls that critics say undermine public trust in the electoral process. Currently, over 23 million Californians are registered to vote.

The conservative government watchdog announced on May 28 that it filed a federal lawsuit against California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, alleging systemic failure to maintain accurate voter lists as required by the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA). The suit, filed on behalf of Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner (a Republican candidate for Secretary of State) and the American Independent Party of California, targets 873,092 inactive voter registrations that have lingered on the rolls for multiple federal election cycles. 

According to the complaint in Don Wagner et al. v. Shirley N. Weber,  326,608 registrations have been inactive for at least three consecutive federal elections (roughly six years), 151,202 for four cycles (eight years), and 33,922 for five or more, with some dating back before the 2016 presidential election. 

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton warned, “Judicial Watch’s federal lawsuit confirms California has a dirty voting rolls crisis – with thousands of old names on the rolls going back at least 10 years. Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections. California and its counties must take immediate steps to clean the over 870,000 dirty names on the voting lists.” 

The organization points to admissions from prior litigation and data from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC). Twenty California counties removed 50 or fewer inactive voters between November 2022 and November 2024, with ten counties (including Alpine, Imperial, Inyo, Kings, Mariposa, Mendocino, Plumas, San Bernardino, Tehama, and Trinity) removing zero. 

These counties collectively hold over 3.4 million registrations yet reported just 218 removals under key NVRA provisions.

Judicial Watch points out that if California “was actually conducting a general program that makes a reasonable effort to cancel the registrations of voters who have become ineligible because of a change of residence, it would not be possible” for these counties to cancel so few registrations under the NVRA in a two-year period.”

By contrast, San Diego County removed over 300,000 during the same period. 

Census data adds urgency: California saw massive out-migration, with 660,000 residents leaving in 2024, 690,000 in 2023, and 818,000 in 2022. Judicial Watch argues that such low removal rates, combined with 18 counties showing more registered voters than voting-age citizens per Census estimates, violate the NVRA’s mandate for reasonable efforts to remove ineligible names (due to death or relocation). 

This latest action builds on Judicial Watch’s long record of forcing roll cleanups nationwide, resulting in over six million ineligible names removed across states including Colorado (372,000), Oregon (800,000 slated for review), Kentucky (735,000), and New York City (over 918,000). A prior 2019 settlement with California and Los Angeles County led to the removal of more than 1.2 million names. 

The California Globe has extensively covered these ongoing election integrity challenges. 

In recent months, we reported on the DOJ leveraging a Skid Row “cash-for-ballots” scheme involving payments to homeless individuals for signatures and registrations. Federal prosecutors reached a deal with Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, who admitted to illegally paying participants in such schemes for decades. 

Earlier coverage highlighted 449,000 non-citizens reportedly excused from jury duty while raising questions about Motor Voter automatic registrations, as well as Democratic resistance to federal efforts like the SAVE Act for citizenship verification and cleaner rolls.  Our reporting has consistently documented how universal mail-in ballots, automatic registration, and lax maintenance create opportunities for abuse in a state with over 23 million registered voters. 

Fitton and plaintiffs emphasize that the suit does not allege specific fraud but exposes a structural vulnerability that “practically invites” misuse, especially with ballots mailed to all registered voters. Wagner, running against incumbent Weber, has pledged stronger accountability if elected. 

California officials have historically defended their processes, but repeated lawsuits, low county-level removals, and high-profile incidents continue to fuel doubt. With the primary underway and general election concerns mounting, Judicial Watch’s push underscores the legal obligation for SOS Weber to enforce federal law for accurate rolls. As Fitton stated, election integrity is not partisan, it is essential.