California election officials are questioning the accuracy of lists the U.S. Department of Justice sent to counties, asking them to set aside ballots from people the department identifies as likely noncitizens, just days before the midterm elections.

The letters arrived Friday afternoon, giving county clerks 48 hours to respond. It’s unclear whether the department intended that deadline to mean 48 hours or two business days.

Tricia Webber, president of the California Association for Clerks and Election Officials and the Santa Cruz County clerk, said the DOJ sent her a list of 81 names. She says more than half are no longer registered to vote in her county, at least one person does not appear to have ever been registered there, and some names do not exactly match county records.

“I have names that are similar but not exact from what they provided. Are they the same people or are they not? It’s incomplete data that they’re giving us, and we have no idea where their data came from in order to create these lists,” Webber said.

ABC10 also learned of similar concerns in Solano County, where officials said they received a list of about 160 names.

Officials checked a small sample and found that most of those voter registrations had already been canceled, including one as far back as 2006.

Beyond questions about the lists’ accuracy, a legal question remains: Can the Justice Department require counties to set aside ballots?

Kevin Johnson, a distinguished professor emeritus at UC Davis School of Law, said he is not aware of any legal authority allowing the department to make that demand.

“I’m not aware of any statute or command that the Department of Justice has the authority to require the setting aside of ballots,” Johnson said.

Tamika Hamilton, a former congressional candidate, said election officials and the federal government should work together to protect election integrity.

“The DOJ and the State should be working hand in hand to make sure that the voters are not undermined by people who are potentially not supposed to be voting,” Hamilton said.

With the midterm elections about a week away, Johnson also raised concerns about how the DOJ’s actions could affect voters.

“Naturalized U.S. citizens may have their votes set aside. More importantly, naturalized citizens may be inhibited from voting at all because of the publicity surrounding the Department of Justice’s actions,” Johnson said.

Webber said she does not want the dispute to discourage anyone from voting.

County election officials are waiting for guidance from California’s secretary of state on how to respond to the DOJ. Meanwhile, Webber said counties are moving forward with the election as planned.

“You should vote your ballot, make your voice heard, return the ballot and know that your election official is going to process the ballot to make sure that your voice is heard,” Webber said.

ABC10 has reached out to the Justice Department, California’s secretary of state and several other counties for answers. Questions remain about where the DOJ obtained the names, what evidence it has that the people identified are not U.S. citizens and what could happen if counties refuse to comply.

More from ABC10: DOJ gives California counties 48 hours to review ballots flagged over citizenship concerns