Washington ballots noncitizens are at the centre of a new election dispute, after the U.S. Justice Department asked Washington state on Monday, October 26, to set aside any ballots received from more than 400 people it suspects registered to vote without U.S. citizenship.
The request, made in a letter to Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, asked the state to confirm whether the people in question are legally eligible to vote, and not to count their ballots until that check is complete. The department said it would seek “emergency relief” if the state could not take those actions by noon local time on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd told a news conference: “We are asking the state to set aside those ballots until we can confirm they are legal voters.” The Justice Department said it had identified 1,500 votes cast by the more than 400 people in prior elections, a figure reported by the Associated Press.
What the Justice Department says it found
The leaders of the two U.S. Attorney’s Offices for Washington State said federal data showed hundreds of non-citizens registered to vote in the state. Many of those on the list provided to the state are lawful permanent residents, or “green card” holders, the department said. Although they have legal immigration status, they are not U.S. citizens and are not permitted to vote in U.S. elections.
“For years Washington State has had a mantra: our elections are ‘free, fair, and devoid of fraud.’ But our investigation shows not all of that is true — people who are non-citizens are registered to vote and are voting in our state,” Floyd said, in a statement published by the Justice Department. “We have identified over 400 non-citizens who are registered to vote and have voted in multiple elections. This is only the tip of the iceberg.”
The department said some green card holders were registered without their knowledge through Washington’s Motor Voter programme and then assumed they were legally registered.
How Washington state responded
Hobbs was reviewing the demand on Monday, his office said. The secretary of state’s office noted that it had received about 60 subpoenas from the Justice Department since last month seeking information about voters.
“We take our responsibility to protect voter information seriously and will only respond to requests that follow due process,” Hobbs said in an emailed statement. “We see what’s happening in California and don’t want Washingtonians to be harassed.”
Washington has more than 5 million registered voters, so the 400-plus people named represent a small fraction of the electorate — but the dispute comes a week before the November 3 midterms, when control of Congress is at stake.
A wider pattern: California and other states
The Washington letter resembled a request earlier this month that California not count any ballots received from around 20,000 alleged noncitizens. California has challenged that demand, and during rare Sunday arguments a panel of federal appellate judges questioned the timing, constitutionality and authority of the Justice Department’s request, the Associated Press reported.
The Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to set the time, place and manner of congressional elections, a point raised in the California case. Legal experts say the Washington dispute could raise similar questions about federal authority, the timing of intervention so close to an election, and the standard of proof required before ballots are set aside.
Multiple state audits and independent studies have found that voter fraud, including voting by noncitizens, is very rare and has not affected election outcomes, Reuters noted. Supporters of the Justice Department’s action argue that even rare cases must be investigated to protect the integrity of each citizen’s vote. Critics argue that sweeping requests weeks before an election risk confusing voters and undermining confidence.
Why Washington matters in the midterms
The pressure campaign is a rare intervention by the Justice Department in the voting process in the weeks before an election, Reuters reported. Republicans are locked in a tight battle to retain slim majorities in both chambers of Congress, and centrist Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s campaign to hold her southwest Washington seat is one of 10 key races that could decide control of the House of Representatives.
Washington votes largely by mail, which means ballots are already being returned and processed ahead of Election Day. That makes the question of whether to segregate certain ballots — holding them aside while eligibility is checked, rather than counting them with other ballots — a practical as well as a legal one for county election officials.
- Letter dated: October 26, from federal prosecutors in Seattle and Spokane.
- People named: More than 400, with 1,500 prior votes identified by the department.
- State deadline sought: Noon local time Wednesday, or the department says it will seek emergency relief.
- Registered voters in Washington: More than 5 million.
- Election Day: November 3.
What happens next
The immediate question is whether Hobbs and county election officials will segregate the ballots in question while citizenship is verified, and what process will be used to contact the voters involved. Voters who believe they are citizens can typically provide proof of citizenship to resolve such questions, but the timeline — days before an election — leaves little room for error.
If the state does not act by the department’s Wednesday deadline, a court fight could follow, with a judge asked to decide whether ballots should be held, counted, or set aside pending further review. That litigation would unfold alongside similar proceedings in California, making the two states test cases for how far federal authorities can go in directing state election administration.
For voters in Washington, the practical message from election officials remains the same: check your registration status, follow instructions from your county elections office, and vote. For the country, the Washington dispute is another sign that the 2026 midterms will be fought not only at the ballot box, but in courtrooms over the rules governing the ballot box itself.