DOJ gives Washington 24 hours to hold ballots for 400 suspected noncitizens

Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd gave Washington state election officials 24 hours on Monday to review a list of more than 400 registered voters the Justice Department believes are noncitizens. The federal government requested that the state sequester any ballots cast by these individuals during next week’s General Election.

Floyd stated in a news release that his team had identified over 400 noncitizens who are registered to vote and have participated in multiple elections. He described the current findings as the tip of the iceberg, promising that his office would continue to investigate and identify individuals committing crimes by voting illegally.

The demand arrived the same day the Trump administration faced a legal defeat in California. A federal appeals court ruled against the Justice Department’s push to separate thousands of ballots there. The court found that the Justice Department had not given the lower court a sufficient opportunity to review the administration’s claims regarding the citizenship status of those voters.

In a letter shared with reporters, the Justice Department instructed Washington to check the provided list against citizenship records. Washington, which maintains more than 5 million voters on its rolls, had refused earlier this year to share its unredacted voter rolls with federal prosecutors. Floyd criticized that decision, arguing it made his office’s work more time-consuming.

Floyd told conservative radio host Jason Rantz on Monday that his office compared lists of permanent legal residents, such as green card holders, against state voter registration records to find the suspected noncitizens. He said this method allowed them to identify potential discrepancies in the state’s voter database.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs’ office is currently reviewing the list, according to spokesperson Helen Smith. Hobbs issued a statement criticizing the timing and process of the federal request. He said the state takes its responsibility to protect voter information seriously and will only respond to requests that follow due process.

Hobbs noted that the administration’s request comes one week before the General Election. He stated that this timing is intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results and that Washington does not want its residents to be harassed, pointing to the recent legal conflicts in California.

Noncitizens occasionally appear on voter rolls, though few cast ballots because voting without citizenship is a crime that can lead to serious penalties, including deportation. Newly naturalized citizens are frequently flagged as noncitizens because there is no comprehensive federal list of U.S. citizens for cross-referencing.

The Justice Department previously told California officials it believed 20,000 noncitizens were on that state’s voter rolls. Los Angeles County election officials argued in a legal filing that the federal list appeared to rely on old voting data and included many apparent U.S. citizens who listed U.S. places of birth.

Election experts told NBC News last week that the administration’s various election lawsuits are legally shaky. They noted that federal law does not grant the Justice Department authority to intervene in election certification or ballot counting. The administration also sued Alaska last week over a Senate candidate’s name, a move experts said further expanded federal involvement in state elections.