The Trump administration recently intensified its scrutiny of state voter rolls by demanding that Washington state set aside ballots from hundreds of individuals it claims are registered without U.S. citizenship. This directive arrives less than two weeks after the Department of Justice issued a similar demand to California officials ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
According to the Justice Department, the federal government flagged approximately 1,500 votes cast by more than 400 individuals in prior elections within Washington. Federal officials asked Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to segregate any ballots cast by these individuals in the upcoming congressional races, which could help determine control of the U.S. Senate and House.
State leaders have strongly pushed back against the federal demands. In California, state officials celebrated a recent appeals court decision regarding similar voter list disputes as a victory for voting rights. California Attorney General Rob Bonta pledged to resist what he termed unlawful federal overreach, while Governor Gavin Newsom characterized the administration's actions as an assault on democracy.
Federal officials indicated that additional lists targeting suspected noncitizen registrations in Washington would be transmitted prior to election day. The Justice Department also acknowledged that some individuals flagged on the preliminary lists may have obtained U.S. citizenship since their initial voter registration.
