The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced Monday that federal agents have identified 405 noncitizens registered to vote and who have cast ballots in Washington elections. Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd of the Western District of Washington and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano of the Eastern District of Washington sent a letter to Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, requesting immediate action to sequester any ballots from the identified noncitizen voters. Secretary Hobbs, speaking from an election security forum in Federal Way on Monday, pushed back against the DOJ's claims, asserting the state's election system is secure.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Floyd stated he had the highest level of confidence in the findings, indicating that these individuals are registered, have voted, and are not citizens. He noted that some noncitizens reported receiving ballots in the mail, believing they were eligible to vote. Floyd explained that federal agents are identifying these individuals by questioning noncitizen detainees and people crossing the border into Washington about their participation in U.S. elections. This information is then cross-referenced with federal immigration databases and publicly available voter registration data.
Floyd described the current identification process as labor-intensive, stating that agents are working on cases individually. Despite this, based on the small sample collected so far, Floyd expressed confidence that potentially thousands of noncitizens could be identified as having voted in Washington. He noted that the DOJ had previously sent a request last month to the Washington Secretary of State's office for unredacted voter registration data. Floyd suggested that full access to the voter roll would simplify the process, contrasting it with the current very difficult process of cross-referencing their information against state lists. He indicated that without full access, the complete extent of noncitizen voting might never be known.
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, however, contested the DOJ's findings. He told KOMO News that some individuals identified by the DOJ may actually have citizenship, questioning the source of the DOJ's names. Hobbs also stated that federal law prohibits removing people from voter rolls within 90 days of an election. His office issued a prepared statement claiming the DOJ's system for flagging noncitizens is flawed and, in some instances, decades old, citing one record from 1994 among the approximately 400 provided by the DOJ.
Hobbs' office emphasized that Washington elections are secure. The statement added that cases of voter fraud, including noncitizen voting, are incredibly rare, and every voter attests to their eligibility by signing the declaration on their ballot return envelope in every election. It also highlighted that election officials take cases of suspected voter fraud seriously and refer them to county sheriffs and prosecutors when appropriate. In a related criticism, Hobbs reiterated concerns about recent U.S. Postal Service changes in postmarking protocols, which he said led to 20,000 rejected ballots in the August primary. He concluded that the state's focus should be on ensuring eligible voters can participate, not on creating uncertainty about eligibility.
Washington GOP Chair Jim Walsh offered a different perspective, suggesting that the DOJ's findings indicate a flaw in the state's automatic voter registration system. Walsh agreed that ballot counting is generally secure, but asserted that the database of registered voters is not secure. He contended that the issue in Washington's election security is located "upstream" of Election Day, particularly regarding voter registration in a mail-in voting state. Walsh stressed the need for secure and clean databases, as ballots are mailed to everyone on the list, and called for a better job of cleaning up that list.
Regarding the 405 individuals federal officials identified, Floyd stated it is currently too early to determine if any will face criminal charges. He noted that illegally voting in an election can lead to disqualification from obtaining U.S. citizenship, and that making false statements in a naturalization application or fraudulently registering to vote are federal crimes. However, Floyd acknowledged that these cases can be challenging to prove in court. He described the current system as making enforcement of illegal voting "extremely difficult, if not impossible" in Washington.
Floyd attributed this difficulty to the system's blind nature. He also suggested that the state has minimal incentive to act, as votes, once cast and counted, cannot be reversed. Floyd concluded by stating that providing more information before an election offers a greater opportunity to prevent such incidents from occurring.
