US Justice Dept asks Washington state not to count ballots from possible noncitizens

WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department has asked Washington state not to count any mail ballots received from more than 400 residents who it says may not be US citizens, opening a new front in the Trump administration's push to expand control of election administration ahead of the Nov 3 midterms.

The letter, which resembled a request earlier this month that California not count any ballots received from around 20,000 alleged noncitizens, marked an escalation in the Trump administration's pressure on state election officials over alleged noncitizen voting. Multiple state audits and independent studies have found that voter fraud, including voting by noncitizens, is very rare and has not affected election outcomes.

The pressure campaign is a rare intervention by the Justice Department in the voting process in the weeks before an election. President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans are locked in a tight battle to retain slim majorities in both chambers of the US Congress, and centrist Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez's campaign to hold onto her southwest Washington seat is one of 10 key races that could decide control of the US House of Representatives.

In the letter dated Oct 26, the top federal prosecutors in Seattle and Spokane asked Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, the state's top elections official, to determine whether the more than 400 people were in fact US citizens and to not count their ballots until their citizenship was determined. The letter said the Justice Department would seek "emergency relief" if the state could not take those actions by noon local time on Wednesday.

There were 5 million registered voters in Washington state as of 2024, according to the secretary of state's office.

Hobbs' office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In California, after state election officials said complying with the Justice Department's demand would be impractical and questioned the accuracy of its information on alleged noncitizens, federal prosecutors filed a lawsuit seeking to block the state from counting any ballots received from the alleged noncitizens.

A hearing is scheduled in that case for 1pm PDT on Tuesday (Wednesday, 4am, Singapore time) before US District Judge David Carter in Los Angeles. A federal appeals court on Monday night denied the Justice Department's request to block California from counting any ballots before Carter had the chance to rule.

Democrats and voting rights advocates say federal data on citizenship is often outdated, meaning naturalised citizens registered to vote are often mistakenly flagged as noncitizens.

In its letter to Washington state officials, the Justice Department acknowledged that some of the individuals flagged as possible noncitizens may have since naturalised, but it did not say how many.