US Justice Dept asks Washington state not to count ballots from possible noncitizens

FILE PHOTO: New banners depicting U.S. President Donald Trump are hung on the Department of Justice building in Washington

Oct 27 (Reuters) - The US Justice Department has asked Washington state not to count any mail ballots received from more than 400 residents who it says may not be US citizens, opening a ‌new front in the Trump administration's push to expand control of election administration ahead of the November 3 midterms.

The ‌letter, which resembled a request earlier this month that California not count any ballots received from around 20,000 alleged noncitizens, marked an escalation in the ​Trump administration's pressure on state election officials over alleged noncitizen voting. Multiple state audits and independent studies have found that voter fraud, including voting by noncitizens, is very rare and has not affected election outcomes.

The pressure campaign is a rare intervention by the Justice Department in the voting process in the weeks before an election. President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans are locked in a tight ‌battle to retain slim majorities in both chambers ⁠of the US Congress, and centrist Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez's campaign to hold onto her southwest Washington seat is one of 10 key races that could decide control of the US House of ⁠Representatives.

In the letter dated October 26, the top federal prosecutors in Seattle and Spokane asked Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, the state's top elections official, to determine whether the more than 400 people were in fact US citizens and to not count their ballots ​until ​their citizenship was determined. The letter said the Justice Department would ​seek "emergency relief" if the state could not take those ‌actions by noon local time (1900 GMT) on Wednesday.

There were 5 million registered voters in Washington state as of 2024, according to the secretary of state's office.

In a statement, Hobbs said his office would only respond to requests that follow due process.

"The timing of this request — one week before the General Election — is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results," Hobbs said.

A Justice Department spokesperson said, "With his (Hobbs') help, we can ensure that only American citizens vote in Washington's elections."

In California, after state ‌election officials said complying with the Justice Department's demand would be ​impractical and questioned the accuracy of its information on alleged noncitizens, federal prosecutors ​filed a lawsuit seeking to block the state from ​counting any ballots received from the alleged noncitizens.

A hearing is scheduled in that case for 1 ‌p.m. PDT (2000 GMT) on Tuesday before US District ​Judge David Carter in Los Angeles. ​A federal appeals court on Monday night denied the Justice Department's request to block California from counting any ballots before Carter had the chance to rule.

Democrats and voting rights advocates say federal data on citizenship is often outdated, ​meaning naturalized citizens registered to vote are ‌often mistakenly flagged as noncitizens.

In its letter to Washington state officials, the Justice Department acknowledged that some ​of the individuals flagged as possible noncitizens may have since naturalized, but it did not say how many.

(Reporting ​by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)