Election offices across California spent Saturday reviewing a blunt demand from the Justice Department. Federal prosecutors want county registrars to pull aside mail ballots returned by voters whom the government suspects are not U.S. citizens. They gave the counties just 48 hours to respond.

The letters went out Friday, a little more than a week before the Nov. 3 election. Each one came with a list of names the department says belong on its broader roster of about 20,000 suspected noncitizen voters in the state. Contra Costa County received 407 names. Santa Clara County received 902. Merced County was asked to check 177.

The demands stop short of asking counties to throw ballots out. A letter to San Bernardino County from First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bilal Essayli asks officials to segregate the ballots of anyone whose citizenship cannot be confirmed and to work with federal agents to sort out who is a citizen. Essayli has said knowingly processing a ballot cast by a noncitizen is a federal crime.

Counties push back

Contra Costa Clerk-Recorder Kristin B. Connelly said her office is following state and federal election law along with both the U.S. and California constitutions. Voters need to vote and should not be intimidated, she said. A county lawyer said officials had not yet decided how to answer.

In Northern California the letters to Contra Costa and Santa Clara came from U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian and warned of legal action if the counties did not act. Merced County Registrar Melvin Levey said his team is reviewing its letter with county lawyers and still expects a fair and lawful election. Fresno County said it is working through the request with the secretary of state and the attorney general.

Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan told fellow election officials in an email that the letters appear to have gone to some or all counties. He described the tone as intimidating and said the department had misstated key facts, including who received the original list of 20,000 names. Logan said that list went to his office, not to the secretary of state.

Part of a widening fight

The letters are the latest step in a weeks-long clash between federal officials and California over the midterm vote. Last week the department sued the state and asked a judge to stop the counting of the ballots on its list. A hearing is set for next week. It has also announced voter fraud charges against 28 people and warned that election officials who knowingly count bad ballots could face prosecution.

On Wednesday a federal judge in Oakland blocked the Department of Homeland Security from carrying out voter fraud checks in several states. The order noted that the methods used to flag possible noncitizens have been known to wrongly sweep in citizens.

Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, whose district includes part of Contra Costa County, said he trusts local officials to follow the law and protect every eligible voter's chance to cast a ballot. Studies and reviews have repeatedly found that voting by noncitizens in federal elections is extremely rare.