Los Angeles County Removes 1.2 Million Ineligible Voters From Rolls

Voters wait in line to cast their ballots at a vote center at a Masonic Lodge in Los Angeles, Calif., on March 3, 2020. Mario Tama/Getty Images

Los Angeles County officials have removed 1.2 million people from voter rolls.

Voters who were designated as ineligible or inactive were removed, officials told Judicial Watch, a nonprofit watchdog group, in a recent correspondence.

“This long overdue voter roll clean-up of 1.2 million registrations in Los Angeles County is a historic victory and means California elections are less at risk for fraud,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “Building on this success, Judicial Watch will continue its lawsuits and activism to clean up voter rolls and to promote and protect cleaner elections.”

The removals were done as part of a settlement agreement reached with Judicial Watch in 2019. The agreement forced state and county officials to contact 1.5 million potentially ineligible voters as part of voter roll maintenance.

According to the agreement, all voters who didn’t confirm their address by responding to a notice and hadn’t voted for two or more general federal elections were to have their registrations canceled.

The National Voter Registration Act requires the removal of voters from rolls if they’re inactive for two general federal elections, but some states ignore the requirement.

Of the 1.2 million inactive voters that have been removed, about 50 percent hadn’t voted for five or more consecutive federal elections, according to the new correspondence.

About another 465,000 voters are inactive but haven’t been inactive for at least two federal elections.

Officials have to inform Judicial Watch in January each year about how they’re complying with the registration act’s requirements for voter roll maintenance.

Officials were spending up to eight years cleaning up the lists, the Election Integrity Project California, which partnered with Judicial Watch, stated in 2019.

Los Angeles County, the largest county in California, has 9.8 million residents.

Judicial Watch regularly sues jurisdictions for failure to comply with the registration act.

New York City removed 441,083 ineligible voters from its voter list in December 2022 as part of a settlement agreement with Judicial Watch, after the watchdog sued it earlier that year.

New York City officials also said they would remove voters in each odd-numbered year in the months following a federal election.

“This historic settlement is a major victory for New York voters who will benefit from cleaner voter rolls and more honest elections. Judicial Watch is pleased that New York City officials quickly moved to remove 441,000 outdated registrations from the rolls,” Fitton said at the time. “We look forward to working together under this federal lawsuit settlement to ensure New York City maintains cleaner rolls for future elections.”