Washington election chief says DOJ noncitizen voter list includes US citizens

Washington state election officials have pushed back against the federal government after uncovering that numerous American citizens were placed on a Justice Department roster of suspected noncitizen voters.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs detailed his findings in a response sent Wednesday to two federal prosecutors who had asked the state to withhold and isolate ballots from about 400 individuals. Prosecutors Neil Floyd and Pete Serrano sent the request just days ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms, demanding that election workers not tabulate the flagged ballots until voter eligibility could be checked.

Hobbs termed the federal government's list unreliable, stating that an initial review showed many individuals listed are in fact U.S. citizens. He also noted that a substantial portion of the names belonged to individuals who either hold inactive voter status or are not registered to vote in Washington at all. Warning that setting those votes aside could unlawfully disenfranchise lawful electors, Hobbs said the confirmed citizens identified so far could represent just the tip of the iceberg.

The dispute emerges as voting is already well under way across Washington, where ballots are cast largely by mail. More than 1.3 million completed ballots had already been received by Wednesday. Hobbs maintained that refusing to tally ballots without specific, individual verification of ineligibility would be irresponsible and a violation of the law.

Hobbs also voiced strong doubts about the integrity of the data supplied by the Trump administration, pointing out that federal officials failed to outline their data sources or collection methods. Delivered merely as a printed spreadsheet within a PDF, the material omitted key identifiers such as voter identification numbers or residential addresses, and it contained repeat entries that suggested a hurried effort.

The prosecutors had contended that many of the roughly 400 individuals were permanent residents holding green cards, who lack the legal right to vote in federal contests despite living in the country lawfully. They gave Hobbs a 48-hour window to review the records and instruct local staff to hold back the ballots, cautioning that federal authorities would seek emergency judicial intervention if the state failed to act. No lawsuit had materialized by Thursday afternoon.

The pressure on Washington mirrors a similar recent push in California, where Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sought to segregate ballots from 20,000 individuals alleged to be noncitizens. The Justice Department sued California after state officials refused, but a federal judge dismissed the request on Wednesday night, citing the absence of reliable evidence and the potential threat to constitutional rights.