After California court setback; Trump DOJ targets 400-plus suspected noncitizen voters in Washington
WASHINGTON, DC: The Trump administration of Monday, Oct 26, asked Washington state election officials to set aside ballot received from more than 400 people it alleges registered to vote without US citizenship.
The DOJ sued California and Los Angeles earlier this month, seeking to stop officials from counting more than 20,000 mail-in ballots linked to people the government believes may be noncitizens.
DOJ now wants Washington state to set aside ballots
In a letter to Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said it had identified about 1,500 votes cast by more than 400 people in previous elections, the Associated Press reported.
The department has asked the state to set aside any ballots these individuals may cast in the upcoming midterm elections until their eligibility to vote is confirmed.
“For years Washington State has had a mantra: our elections are ‘free, fair, and devoid of fraud.’ But our investigation shows not all of that is true – people who are non-citizens are registered to vote and are voting in our state,” Neil Floyd, the acting US attorney for the Western District of Washington, said in a press release Monday.
Floyd said that the identification of 400 people suspected of being noncitizens who had voted was “only the tip of the iceberg.”
Washington Secretary of State Hobbs says DOJ list includes last time people voted
According to Hobbs’ office, the DOJ’s data reportedly showed when each of the 405 people last voted, along with the department’s concerns about their citizenship and voter registration.
“The timing of this request—one week before the General Election—is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results,” Hobbs said in a statement, according to the AP report.
According to the DOJ, many people on the list are lawful permanent residents, also known as green card holders. They are legally allowed to live in the US but are not eligible to vote in federal elections.
“We have heard from green card holders who were registered against their knowledge via the Washington Motor Voter program,” the DOJ release said.
“Then they receive a ballot in the mail and assume they are legally registered – that simply is not the case.”
The move, which comes roughly a week before the midterm elections, is the latest effort by the Trump administration to identify suspected noncitizen voters.
Earlier this month, the department sued California, after giving the state a USB drive and demanding that officials compare 20,000 names on its voter rolls with information provided by the Department of Homeland Security within 48 hours.
