Judge Blocks Threats as Washington Ballot Fight Heads to Court

Judge Blocks Threats as Washington Ballot Fight Heads to Court

Federal List Targets 400 Voters One Week Before Midterms

The Justice Department sent a letter on Oct. 26 to Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs identifying more than 400 people it alleges registered to vote without U.S. citizenship. It said those individuals had cast 1,500 votes in prior elections and asked the state to set aside any ballots they cast in the coming midterm elections until officials confirm they are eligible. The state was given 24 hours to check the list against citizenship records. Washington has more than 5 million registered voters and conducts elections entirely by mail, with voting already underway.

Hobbs Calls the List Unreliable and Politically Timed

Hobbs refused to comply. He said the federal list was unreliable and included U.S. citizens, noting that one person on it last voted in 1994. "The timing of this request — one week before the General Election — is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results," he said. His office said it was reviewing the request but would not segregate ballots on the basis of the federal list alone. "We saw what happened in California and don't want Washingtonians to be harassed," Hobbs added.

Prosecutors Say the State Cannot Police Itself

At a Monday news conference, acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington Charles Neil Floyd said, "Without our help, the state of Washington does not have the capacity or the will to check if noncitizens are voting," adding that the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security under President Trump were determined to root out illegal voting. Pete Serrano said the next move could be letters to all 39 county auditors, with ballots tabulated but then segregated and reviewed before counties certify results on November 23. He warned that legal action could follow if the state refused.

California's 20,000-Ballot Demand Sets the Pattern

The Washington demand follows a similar move in California, where the department on Oct. 13 asked officials to withhold or set aside mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters suspected of being noncitizens, then sued California election officials on Oct. 15 after the state refused. The administration has sued 30 states and the District of Columbia for complete voter rolls, including addresses, dates of birth, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. Twenty-seven of those lawsuits have been thrown out by federal judges. Noncitizen voting is exceptionally rare, according to election experts cited by the Associated Press.

Three Groups Sue Trump Over an Eleventh-Hour Operation

Late on Oct. 30, OneAmerica Votes, the Latino Community Fund of Washington and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union sued in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle. The defendants are President Donald Trump, Attorney General Todd Blanche, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, the Department of Homeland Security and federal prosecutors. The complaint calls the ballot-segregation demand a "flagrantly unlawful, chilling, eleventh-hour operation" built on shoddy federal data, accusing the administration of trying to bypass judicial scrutiny and coerce local administrators instead.

Judge Thompson Issues a Nationwide Stop-Threats Order

Hours earlier on Oct. 30, U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson of the Northern District of California granted a temporary restraining order in a related suit brought by unions representing California election workers. The eight-page order bars the Justice Department and Homeland Security from threatening, intimidating or coercing state or local election officials with criminal prosecution, and from demanding that they segregate ballots, refuse ballots to specific voters or purge voter rolls based solely on the administration's list of alleged noncitizens. Thompson wrote that senior officials had "engaged in a campaign to intimidate, threaten, and coerce" election workers, conduct likely to interfere with election administration and disenfranchise lawful voters. She also ordered the administration to notify every state and local government that received such letters that the demands and prosecution threats are blocked while the order stands.

Named Voters in Limbo, Officials Under Pressure

The most immediate stakes concern the roughly 400 named Washington residents, including possible U.S. citizens misidentified on the list, whose ballots could be pulled aside and left uncounted. The judge's order reaches beyond them: it protects election officials in every state from prosecution threats during the midterms, which will decide which party controls Congress for the final two years of Trump's presidency. Labor groups said California election staff had already faced intimidation that disrupted their work.

Certification Deadline Looms as Lawsuits Proceed

Washington counties must certify results by November 23, leaving little time to resolve disputes over segregated ballots. The Seattle lawsuit has no assigned judge or hearing yet, and Thompson's order is a temporary measure that requires further briefing before any longer injunction. Whether federal prosecutors carry out Serrano's threat to bypass the state and press the 39 counties directly, or file a new suit against Washington as they did against California, is the next flashpoint to watch.