(The Center Square) – Washington’s Secretary of State says the timing of Monday’s U.S. Department of Justice press conference where federal authorities said they had identified hundreds of noncitizens that have voted in state and federal elections is “no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results,” wrote Helen Smith, communications editor in the Office of the Secretary of State via email to The Center Square.
Federal authorities are asking Washington election officials to set aside ballots from more than 400 voters they suspect registered without being U.S. citizens.
“We are asking the state to set aside those ballots until we can confirm they are legal voters,” Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said in the Monday news conference.
Federal authorities said they anticipate sending an additional list of suspected noncitizens before Election Day.
“This is not the full number of noncitizens who have been voting in Washington. With a small sample we collected so far, I am confident we are looking at thousands of noncitizens who have been voting in Washington,” said Floyd.
SOS says Washington elections are secure
“We take our responsibility to protect voter information seriously and will only respond to requests that follow due process,” Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said following the press conference.
“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. Election officials take cases of suspected voter fraud seriously,” wrote Smith at SOS.
Washington GOP Chairman Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, told The Center Square the 400-plus noncitizen voters identified by DOJ are likely the very tip of the iceberg.
“They pointed out that the lack of compliance on the part of Washington state elected officials with federal election law is making it harder to do these investigations. That’s why Washington elected officials, primarily the governor, the state attorney general, and the secretary of state are refusing to cooperate and comply with federal election law, just because they know they’ve got a problem,” said Walsh.
Smith at SOS said the office must prioritize protecting voter privacy.
“Our priority remains protecting Washington citizens’ right to vote and their private information. We will not release information that is protected under state and federal law.”
The Center Square reached out to Washington Democratic State Party Chair Shasti Conrad after the DOJ press conference.
“Washington Democrats are unsurprised that the Trump-Vance administration is doing everything possible to undermine the integrity of the upcoming election as voters reject their failed policies. Washington state has the best elections system in the country. Full stop,” said Conrad.
She added that the timing of the announcement just one week before the midterms is an attempt to district from Republicans failed economic policies.
“We will not be intimidated by this effort to disenfranchise eligible voters, and we will not allow this illegal, unconstitutional federal interference in our elections to prevent us from stopping the chaos and corruption of the Trump-Vance administration at the ballot drop box.”
Walsh said he’s confident federal officials will get to the bottom of how widespread the problem is, even if state officials refuse to cooperate.
“They know that there are a substantial number of illegally registered voters voting in Washington. And they don’t want anyone looking into exactly how many. Is it a few hundred? Is it a few thousand? Is it a few tens of thousands? We don’t know.”
He suggested Hobbs and others who claim Washington’s voter rolls are clean and secure have no choice but to double down.
“At this point, they have overplayed their hands so poorly on this issue that I don’t think they can afford to tell the truth anymore. They would consider it backtracking and acknowledging the wrongness of their previous position,” Walsh said.
The DOJ news release Monday noted non-citizens who have voted face serious potential penalties, including a charge of fraudulent voter registration-a felony-which carries a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.