The department has issued grand jury subpoenas to local election officials as part of a widening effort to prove unsubstantiated claims about large numbers of illegal voters in the state.
Voters casting their ballots in Los Angeles in June. At least two employees of Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office received grand jury subpoenas last week.
In the legal tangle between the Justice Department and California, a federal judge on Tuesday deferred a ruling but said the government already had a remedy it could use after the election.
The ruling largely blocked homeland security agents from carrying out field interviews in nine states, including California, as part of a sprawling effort to find noncitizens registered to vote.