Federal Officials asked Washington State to set aside ballots tied to 405 people they say are noncitizens registered to vote, roughly a week before the midterm elections. The request came in a letter from the U.S. attorney’s offices for the Eastern and Western Districts of Washington to Secretary of State Steve Hobbs.
The Justice Department said the group’s members had cast about 1,500 votes in earlier elections. Prosecutors asked the state to hold any ballots the people might cast in November until officials could verify their eligibility.
The letter gave Washington 24 hours to check the names against citizenship records. Federal officials said some people on the list may have since become naturalized citizens.
Hobbs said his office was reviewing the request. He called its timing an effort to cast “unfounded suspicion on the results.”
The department said it expects to provide another list before Election Day. It also said the current list includes 405 people.
- One person on the supplied list last voted in 1994.
- The secretary of state’s office said it had received about 60 federal subpoenas since last month.
- Washington mails ballots to more than 5 million registered voters.
The list includes green-card holders and records dating back decades
Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said investigators are comparing federal immigration information with public voter-registration records. Agents have questioned noncitizen detainees and people crossing the border into Washington about whether they voted.
Floyd described the investigation as a person-by-person process. Investigators also reviewed U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services records, he said, finding people who had applied for certain benefits and also voted. Much of the list, he said, came from recent contacts with suspected noncitizens.
The records reach back decades. Floyd said some people voted once or three times, while others voted as many as 27 times. He identified the earliest voting record as dating to 1984, and said he had not checked whether anyone on the list voted in the current election because he did not want to interfere with it.
Floyd called the 405 names “the tip of the iceberg.” He said agents had not received the state’s unredacted voter rolls, which he argued made comparisons more difficult and could complicate proving that a person voted illegally. He also said that without access to the full database, investigators might not establish the extent of the conduct.
Many people on the list are lawful permanent residents, or green-card holders. They may live and work legally in the United States, but they are not citizens and cannot vote in U.S. elections.
The department said some green-card holders reported being registered without their knowledge through Washington’s Motor Voter program, which connects voter registration to the state Department of Licensing. The state’s website says eligible residents are automatically registered only if they provide proof of U.S. citizenship during a driver’s license or identification-card transaction.
The department’s release said a noncitizen who discovers a voter registration should report it to the secretary of state’s office to cancel it. It also warned that knowingly claiming citizenship under oath on a registration application can bring criminal charges.
Hobbs disputes the list’s accuracy and timing
Hobbs said some people named in the federal data are citizens. At an election-security forum in Federal Way on Monday, he said, “A lot of them, or some of them, actually have citizenship, so I don't know where they are getting their names from.” He also said federal law bars removing people from voter rolls within 90 days of an election.
His office called the federal method for flagging noncitizens “flawed” and said some records were decades old. One record in the material showed a last vote in 1994, the office said.
The secretary of state’s office said Washington elections are secure and that suspected fraud cases are investigated and referred to county sheriffs and prosecutors when appropriate. It also said voters attest to their eligibility by signing the declaration on each ballot-return envelope.
Hobbs separately criticized changes to U.S. Postal Service postmarking. He said those changes led to the rejection of 20,000 ballots during the August primary. He argued the state should focus on ballot rejections rather than creating more uncertainty for voters.
The state and federal government cite different election safeguards
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano for the Eastern District of Washington said the information was shared to protect eligible voters.
“Our purpose in sharing this data with the Secretary of State is to protect the sanctity of each citizen's vote,” Serrano said.
The department’s release said possible charges include making false statements in a naturalization application and fraudulent voter registration. Both are felonies with a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison. It also warned that illegal registration or voting could affect a later naturalization application, which asks applicants whether they have claimed U.S. citizenship or registered or voted in U.S. elections.
The dispute over records predates the new letter. In July, the head of the department’s Civil Rights Division told Hobbs that federal officials were examining whether noncitizens appeared on voter rolls. Last month, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dillon asked the state for unredacted voter-registration data.
Hobbs said the state would respond only to requests that follow due process. His office also said federal officials had sought voter information through about 60 subpoenas since last month. Washington conducts elections by mail, sending ballots to all of its more than 5 million registered voters.
Washington Republican Party Chair Jim Walsh said the findings exposed a flaw in the state’s automatic-registration system. Hobbs, meanwhile, said the federal request could create uncertainty for eligible voters. The dispute comes during a close race in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, where Democrats are counting on Rep. Maria Gluesenkamp Perez to help them regain the House majority.
Federal officials have said they anticipate sending another list before Election Day. Hobbs’ office is still reviewing the names it has received.
