Justice Department pressures Washington to sequester ballots from more than 400 suspected noncitizen voters
Select a version of the text written from a presumed ideological perspective. This is not the original text, but a hypothetical version — how someone with that viewpoint might have phrased it. Tapping the current version again will return to the original or select cleaned version.
The Justice Department has urged Washington state to isolate any ballots cast by more than 400 people it says may not be U.S. citizens, setting off concerns about due process, voter intimidation, and federal overreach while eligibility is checked.
The Justice Department sent a letter to the Washington Secretary of State’s Office pressing the state to hold any ballots that might be cast by more than 400 people it suspects are not U.S. citizens. The agency said it had identified about 1,500 votes cast by those individuals in previous elections and wants the ballots for the upcoming midterm elections set aside until eligibility can be confirmed, a move critics say risks chilling lawful participation.
"We are asking the state to set aside those ballots until we can confirm they are legal voters," Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said at a news conference.
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said his office is reviewing the request and noted it has received roughly 60 subpoenas from the Justice Department since last month. He added that the office will respond only to requests that follow due process and expressed concern about potential harassment of voters, underscoring the worry that aggressive enforcement can sweep up eligible people.
"We take our responsibility to protect voter information seriously and will only respond to requests that follow due process," Hobbs said in an emailed statement.
The request follows similar actions in California, where a Justice Department demand to sequester mail ballots from up to 20,000 suspected noncitizens is being challenged in federal court. Judges have questioned the timing, constitutionality and authority of the department’s demand, citing the Elections Clause that gives state legislatures authority over election procedures, and raising doubts about the federal government’s attempt to intervene so late in the process.
In a related case, Los Angeles County staff reviewed a sample of 200 records from the department’s list and found many entries were canceled, inactive, or belonged to individuals born in the United States. The Justice Department indicated it may provide Washington with an additional list before Election Day and noted that some suspects may have become naturalized citizens.
Previous investigations in Nevada and Arizona found far fewer noncitizen voters than the administration’s estimates, highlighting how rare such voting violations appear to be despite the sweeping rhetoric used to justify these crackdowns.