Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs has rejected a Department of Justice request to set aside ballots from roughly 400 people the federal government claims are noncitizens registered to vote in the state, calling the list unreliable and the timing “profoundly disappointing” with Election Day only days away.
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In a letter dated 28 October, Hobbs told federal prosecutors that a preliminary review already showed the list includes United States citizens and a significant number of people who are not currently registered or are on inactive status. Without individualized proof of ineligibility, he wrote, declining to process a registered voter’s ballot would be both irresponsible and illegal under federal and state law.
The letter notes that Washington mailed ballots to all active registered voters by 16 October. The DOJ request arrived well after that date and barely a week before the 3 November election. Hobbs pointed out that his office holds regular consultations with the U.S. Attorney’s office in the months leading up to elections and that any genuine concerns should have been raised earlier. The decision to wait until the eve of the election and announce the claims at a press conference, he said, does not reflect good faith efforts to ensure a free and accurate vote.
Hobbs also criticised the format of the data. The list was delivered as a PDF of a printed spreadsheet rather than an electronic file, omitted key fields such as Voter ID numbers and addresses, contained duplicate entries, and incorrectly listed Election Day as 2 November instead of 3 November. Even on the short timeline provided, the Secretary of State’s office identified multiple U.S. citizens on the list and expects more will surface with fuller review.
The letter cites the Voting Rights Act prohibition on willfully failing or refusing to tabulate a qualified voter’s vote and notes that Washington law already requires repeated citizenship attestations under penalty of perjury. Existing state processes for challenging registrations require actual proof, not unverified allegations. Hobbs invited the Department of Justice to supply individualized evidence if it possesses any, while urging officials not to distract election workers in the final days before the midterms.
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