• Analysis
Noncitizen voters Washington ballots: Steve Hobbs reviews justice department request
Washington secretary of state Steve Hobbs said Monday he is reviewing a justice department request to set aside ballots from 405 suspected noncitizen voters, and argued the timing, one week before the general election, is intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results.
What the justice department asked of Washington
On Monday, the Trump administration asked Washington state to set aside any ballots received from more than 400 people it alleges are registered to vote without US citizenship. In a letter to Hobbs, the justice department said it had identified 1,500 votes cast by those people in prior elections.
The federal request covers the 405 named individuals and asks that any Washington mail ballots they might cast in next month's midterm elections be held until state officials can confirm they are legally eligible to vote. Washington has more than 5 million registered voters, and the state issues mail ballots to all of them.
- •405 people are named in the federal request
- •1,500 prior votes are said to be tied to them
- •Ballots are to be set aside pending eligibility checks
- •A further list is expected before election day
Hobbs's review and the state's counterpoints
Hobbs said he is reviewing the request. His office noted that the data shared by the department included the last time each of the 405 people voted, and one of those dates was 1994. Hobbs also pushed back on the request arriving one week before the general election.
"One week before the general election – is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results," Hobbs said.
Washington officials added that changes in US Postal Service operations have disenfranchised thousands of legitimate voters.
Federal investigators say the list is incomplete
Charles Neil Floyd, the acting US attorney in Seattle, said at a news conference that he believed the 405 voters identified so far represented only "the tip of the iceberg".
Floyd attributed the shortfall to state-imposed limitations on the investigation, saying investigators had uncovered only a fraction of the total number. He said much of the list was built on "recent contacts" with suspected noncitizens, as federal officers routinely check whether people they interact with are registered to vote.
He said proving illegal voting would be difficult without state records, and the justice department has demanded information including addresses, dates of birth, driver's license numbers and partial social security numbers.
Similar demands in California and Alaska
The Washington request was the third time this month the justice department brought a direct state challenge while voting was under way, following California and Alaska.
In California, the department sued to require the state to set aside mail ballots from up to 20,000 people suspected of not being citizens. On Monday a federal appellate panel declined the expedited timeline the justice department requested and sent the case back to a lower court. A lawsuit filed in Alaska last week seeks to delay certification of the vote if the Republican incumbent does not win.
The justice department told Washington it anticipates sending an additional list of people it suspects are not citizens prior to election day, and noted that some suspects may have since been naturalized. Hobbs said he is reviewing the request.
