Voter Roster Dispute: Washington Challenges Federal List of 400 Alleged Noncitizens

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs told the U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday that a federal list of 400 alleged noncitizen voters is not reliable. He urged the state to set the records aside until citizenship status is verified, a move that directly challenges a deadline set by federal prosecutors just days before the midterm elections.

The dispute centers on a letter sent on Monday by federal prosecutors Neil Floyd and Pete Serrano. They identified more than 400 people registered to vote in Washington whom the administration believes are noncitizens. The prosecutors claimed many are green-card holders with legal immigration status but no U.S. citizenship, meaning they cannot vote in federal elections. They gave Hobbs a 48-hour deadline to review the list and direct election workers to withhold ballots from those individuals unless their citizenship is confirmed.

Hobbs responded that a preliminary investigation found many individuals on the list are U.S. citizens. He also noted that a substantial number of entries belonged to people who are no longer registered or have inactive registrations. In his reply, Hobbs warned that the identified errors may represent only the tip of the iceberg. He stated it would be illegal for election officials to reject ballots without individualized proof of ineligibility.

The secretary of state criticized the methodology used by the Trump administration to compile the roster. He said the department did not explain how the data was collected or from what sources. The list was delivered as a PDF spreadsheet that lacked standard fields such as voter ID numbers or addresses. It also contained duplicate entries, which Hobbs said indicated the document was created in a rushed manner.

More than 1.3 million mail ballots had been returned in Washington as of Wednesday. Voting began in mid-October for the November 3 election, which will determine control of the House and Senate. The federal demand in Washington is the second recent challenge to state voter rolls in the final days before the midterms. Earlier this month, Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter demanded that California separate ballots from 20,000 alleged noncitizens.

In California, federal Judge David Carter raised concerns about the government's process for creating the list. He ruled that the public interest favors protecting the rights of voters who met state registration laws. Carter stated that individuals should not lose a core right based on allegations stemming from a procedure rife with uncertainty and errors. As of Thursday afternoon, no lawsuit had been filed in Washington regarding the 400-person list.