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DOJ Requests Washington State to Set Aside 400 Ballots of Suspected Noncitizens
Confirmed
In Short: The Justice Department is asking Washington state to set aside ballots from over 400 voters it suspects are noncitizens, just days before the midterms.
The Justice Department is asking Washington state to set aside ballots from over 400 voters it suspects are noncitizens, just days before the midterms. This move echoes similar actions taken in California, where the DOJ has sued to prevent the state from counting ballots it claims belong to noncitizens.
Acting U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, Charles Neil Floyd, notified Secretary of State Steve Hobbs of the potentially illegal voters in a letter, urging immediate action. Floyd said the list of 405 people flagged by the DOJ as noncitizens had voted 1,500 times in total, adding, 'This is only the tip of the iceberg.'
Local officials in Los Angeles said a sampling of the 20,000 ballots surveyed showed a 'high percentage' of people who say they were born in the U.S. This comes after a federal appeals court declined to intervene in a similar matter, stating that the 'emergency' the DOJ claimed was partly 'self-constructed.'
Since then, 113.5 million primary and general election ballots have been cast in Washington, according to the secretary of state’s office. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs responded to the Justice Department's letter, saying, 'We saw what happened in California and don't want Washingtonians to be harassed.'
The timing of the request, one week before the General Election, has sparked backlash from state officials who say the DOJ’s intention is to create 'unfounded suspicion.' Federal prosecutors in Washington state claimed the more than 400 individuals on the list represent 'only the tip of the iceberg.'
Hobbs noted that federal law bars state and county election officials from removing voters from registration lists 90 days before an election, a window known as the quiet period. He added, 'The timing of this request -- one week before the General Election -- is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results.'
The DOJ has charged about 90 people for various types of election misconduct so far this year, including 50 who are alleged to have voted as noncitizens. However, experts say that despite allegations of 250,000 noncitizens registered in California, Nevada, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, the issue is rare. In Nevada, a probe found zero noncitizen voters despite allegations of 1,500.
The state has more than 5 million registered voters, and there were more than 227 million registered voters in the United States during the 2024 presidential election. The DOJ's actions in Washington and California are part of a broader effort to identify noncitizen voters, even though such cases are rare.
What this adds
The DOJ's actions in Washington and California are part of a broader effort to identify noncitizen voters, even though such cases are rare.
What's confirmed
- "We saw what happened in California and don't want Washingtonians to be harassed," Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said in a statement on Monday responding to the Justice Department's letter.
- "The timing of this request -- one week before the General Election -- is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results," Hobbs added.
- "We are carefully reviewing the request and assessing the information sought to ensure that our response complies with applicable state and federal laws."
- At a news conference Monday, Charles Neil Floyd, the acting U.S. Attorney for Western Washington, said he’d notified Secretary of State Steve Hobbs of the potentially illegal voters in a letter, and urged him to take immediate action.
- “This is not the full number of noncitizens who have been voting in Washington. This is only the tip of the iceberg,” Floyd said, adding that the people flagged by the DOJ as noncitizens had voted 1,500 times in total.
- “We have identified over 400 non-citizens who are registered to vote and have voted in multiple elections,” Floyd said in a news release Monday.
- The Trump administration is asking Washington state to set aside any ballots received from more than 400 people it suspects registered to vote without U.S. citizenship.
- This request is part of a broader effort to identify noncitizen voters, even though such cases are rare.
What's still developing
- Neil Floyd, the acting U.S. attorney in Seattle, and Pete Serrano, the top federal prosecutor in eastern Washington, said they believe that many of the more than 400 registered voters are green-card holders, who have legal immigration status but are not U.S. citizens and cannot vote in federal elections.
- It gave California 48 hours to review the administration’s list and called on it to sequester their ballots.
- In a statement, the DOJ said it had provided the state with a list of voters suspected of being noncitizens or green card holders.
- The complaint, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, alleges the Department of Homeland Security has obtained voter files from at least 47 states and handled the data in a way that violates federal law.
- The president has purported repeatedly argued that noncitizen voting poses a serious threat to election integrity, although studies and prosecutions have found documented instances of noncitizens casting ballots to be rare.
- In addition to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and several national Democratic groups, the plaintiffs include Erick Jose Jimenez, an “active California voter” and naturalized U.S.