DOJ Threatens Washington Voter Rolls Before Midterms

The Department of Justice gave Washington until Wednesday at noon local time to respond to a threat of legal action unless the state removed around 400 people from its voter registration rolls. The department claims those people aren’t U.S. citizens. Its letter warned of what it called “emergency relief,” putting federal power behind a demand to alter the rolls just before the November 3 midterm elections.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said the timing was “no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results.” His office was reviewing the list and had found entries based on outdated information. Hobbs said the DOJ cited a record from 1994 to claim that one person on the list was a noncitizen.

“Washington elections are secure. 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,” Hobbs said. The people whose eligibility the federal department challenges are not quoted in the account; the dispute is being conducted through official lists, letters and court proceedings.

A demand backed by federal power

Last month, Washington successfully argued in a lawsuit that it wasn’t required to give the DOJ its entire voter list. The state was among dozens of Democrat-led states that faced demands from the Trump administration and had courts side with them. Now the department is pressing Washington over a smaller list and threatening legal action if the state doesn’t comply.

The immediate stakes are the registration records of around 400 people. The article doesn’t say Washington has removed anyone. It does describe a federal demand for removal, based in part on information Hobbs says can be outdated, and a deadline that leaves the state to answer the department’s threat before Election Day.

The DOJ has continued efforts to cast doubt on the November 3 election, including claims that large numbers of noncitizens are voting in Democratic-led states. Bipartisan voting rights groups have repeatedly dismissed those claims. No grassroots organizing, mutual aid effort or community response appears in the account; the actions described are those of government departments, state officials and courts.

The ballot becomes a battleground

Last week, the DOJ sued Alaska and said it would seek to block certification of the state’s Senate election if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan didn’t win. The department argued that Alaska authorities were failing in their responsibility to run a fair election because another candidate also named Dan Sullivan appeared on the ballot. The ballot identifies Senator Dan Sullivan as the incumbent.

On Friday, Trump said he had personally told the DOJ to file the Alaska lawsuit. The race is one of several nationwide that could go to the Democratic Party and result in Republicans losing control of the legislative body. The intervention puts federal authority into a contest whose outcome could affect control of the Senate.

Earlier this month, California said it received a DOJ letter directing the state to review a list of around 20,000 noncitizen voters. California authorities said a large percentage of those listed appeared to have been born in the United States, which would make them eligible voters. As in Washington, the government’s list and its interpretation of people’s eligibility are at the center of the dispute.

The DOJ also plans to deploy a record number of election observers nationwide on November 3 to watch for irregularities, despite objections from local officials in several Democratic-led states, including New Jersey and California. Historically, the department has sent observers to locations with a record of civil rights violations and obstacles that could keep minorities or disenfranchised groups from voting on Election Day. Trump said Tuesday he would accept the midterm results if they were “honest.” Asked whether he would accept the outcome if Republicans lost control of Congress, he said, “I will if they're honest elections.”