OLYMPIA — Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs has sharply rejected a Justice Department demand that election officials set aside ballots cast by hundreds of people the department alleged were noncitizens, telling the two federal prosecutors the list they provided includes U.S. citizens, lacks basic identifying information needed for verification, and arrived too late for meaningful review before Election Day.
In a pointed letter dated October 28, two days after receiving the request from Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd of the Western District of Washington and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano of the Eastern District, Secretary Hobbs said a preliminary review confirmed the list “includes United States citizens and is not reliable.” Without individualized proof of ineligibility, he wrote, “it would be both irresponsible and illegal for election officials to decline to process a registered voter’s ballot.”
“If the federal government possesses individualized proof that certain registered voters in Washington are ineligible, my office welcomes the opportunity to review that direct evidence,” Hobbs wrote to Floyd and Serrano. “It cannot rely on the mere absence of a name from the SAVE database or the Department’s assertions based on the vague and untested methodology described in the lawsuit against California.”
The prosecutors’ letter claimed the Department of Homeland Security had identified 405 people, with a high level of confidence, as noncitizens who had voted roughly 1,500 times in Washington elections, some as recently as August 2026 and some for more than a decade. It alleged that many are lawful permanent residents who obtained registration through the state’s motor-voter program and then received mail ballots. A second list of additional suspected noncitizen registrants was expected before the election.
The letter asked Hobbs or his office to review the list within 24 hours to determine whether U.S. citizens appeared on it, and to instruct local officials not to verify signatures or tabulate any returned ballots from people on the list until citizenship could be confirmed. Failure to implement that process by noon Pacific time on Wednesday, Oct. 28, the letter warned, would leave the United States “no choice but to seek emergency relief.”
Hobbs, in his official response on Wednesday, wrote that the information supplied by Floyd and Serrano fell short of what would be required to meet either request. Rather than an electronic spreadsheet, the department provided a PDF of a printed spreadsheet that omitted fields such as voter identification numbers and addresses. Those missing fields, Hobbs wrote, make it “difficult—if not impossible—to confirm whether an entry on the list matches a voter registration.”
The list also contained duplicate entries, which he described as evidence it had been assembled in a rushed manner. The letter itself incorrectly stated that Election Day is Nov. 2; it is Nov. 3.
“Despite the deficiencies in the information you provided, my office was able to conduct a preliminary analysis,” Hobbs wrote.” That analysis reflects a significant number of people on your list who are not currently registered to vote or are on inactive status, contradicting your representations that all the individuals included in the list will receive a ballot in this year’s election. In addition, even the cursory review that was possible on the unreasonably short timeline you provided revealed that many of the persons on your list are United States citizens based on information of which Washington is aware. It is almost certain more people named on this list are also United States citizens; those already identified may just be the “tip of the iceberg” of individuals that would be wrongfully disenfranchised by the actions you request.”
Hobbs was equally direct about the DOJ’s timing of it’s request and alleged the agency acted in bad faith. Ballots had been mailed to all active registered voters no later than Oct. 16, a fact the prosecutors’ letter acknowledged. Yet the list arrived well after that date and barely a week before Election Day.
“As you know, my office holds regular consultations with your office in the months leading up to elections,” wrote Hobbs. “If you had valid concerns about voter registrations, the time to raise them was months ago. Your decision to wait until the eve of an election and announce those concerns at a press conference instead of timely providing the list and any corroborating evidence to my office is not a sign of good faith to ensure a free, fair, and accurate election.”
The secretary also faulted the DOJ on the absence of any description of how their information was collected, what sources were used, or any backup documentation. Given what he described as recent acts of election interference by the DOJ in California, Alaska, and now Washington, he said it would be particularly inappropriate for the state “simply to assume” the “unsupported allegations here are credible.”
Hobbs argued that his refusal to instruct officials to withhold tabulation was directly tied to federal and state law: “The Voting Rights Act of 1965 provides that election officials may not ‘willfully fail or refuse to tabulate, count, or report’ a qualified voter’s vote. 52 U.S.C. § 10307(a). Absent proof anyone on the list is not qualified, your request ‘to not . . . tabulate the ballot’ would appear to violate this federal law. Under Washington law, each registered voter provides the proof of citizenship that Congress required. See 52 U.S.C. § 20508(b)(2). In addition, your letter fails to provide any information establishing the provided list is exempt from the National Voter Registration Act’s 90-day quiet period before a federal election. 52 U.S.C. § 20507(c)(2).”
“The right to vote is a sacred right, and federal and state law provide strong protections against wrongful disenfranchisement,” Hobbs wrote.
Hobbs reiterated state law reminding the DOJ that the registration form repeatedly warns that only citizens may register and that knowingly providing false information is a class C felony and that voters re-attest to citizenship under penalty of perjury each time they sign a return ballot envelope.
Washington also maintains a voter-registration challenge process and specific procedures for cases in which a noncitizen becomes registered, Hobbs said. Those processes, he added, “require proof, not just allegations” like in the DOJ’s request on Monday.
“State and local election officials in Washington work tirelessly to administer free and fair elections,” Hobbs concluded in his letter to Floyd and Serrano. “They are truly heroes of democracy. As you might imagine, the days leading up to Election Day are incredibly busy, as election officials assist voters seeking to exercise their fundamental right to vote. Rather than distract these dedicated public servants from their important work at this late hour with a meritless lawsuit, I strongly encourage you to re-visit the deeply flawed data you provided earlier this week, identify any actual proof, and work collaboratively with my office in the weeks or months to come.”
The DOJ framed its request as necessary to protect the sanctity of each U.S. citizen’s vote.
Floyd said in a statement that the investigation showed “people who are non-citizens are registered to vote and are voting in our state” and that the 405 names were “only the tip of the iceberg.” Serrano said the purpose of sharing the data was to ensure that Washington citizens’ votes are protected.
As mentioned by Sec. Hobbs, the DOJ’s request closely tracks actions it has taken in California, where prosecutors identified roughly 20,000 people described as “likely” noncitizens who received mail ballots. In both states, U.S. Attorney’s Offices asked election officials to review the lists quickly, segregate returned ballots, and refrain from tabulating them until citizenship is confirmed, while cooperating with DHS.
In California the DOJ filed suit and sought emergency court order. On Oct. 26, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected that emergency appeal in a 2-1 decision, holding that the appeals court lacked jurisdiction because the district court had not yet ruled.
The case has been returned to the district court in Los Angeles were it was brought before U.S. District Judge David O. Carter who is expected to make a ruling Wednesday, October 28.
The DOJ’s actions occur against the backdrop of an executive order President Trump signed on March 25, 2025, titled “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections.” The order directed the Election Assistance Commission to require documentary proof of citizenship on the national mail voter-registration form, instructed federal agencies to provide states access to verification databases, prioritized prosecutions and information-sharing, and conditioned certain federal funding on compliance, among other measures.
In December 2025 the Justice Department sued Hobbs under the Civil Rights Act of 1960 seeking the full unredacted statewide voter file, including driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. A federal judge dismissed the case with prejudice on Sept. 22, 2026, holding that the statewide list is not a “record or paper” covered by the statute because it is created by the state rather than a record that “comes into” officials’ possession. The court also found the demand was not tied to the statute’s purpose of preventing unlawful disenfranchisement.
Author: Mario Lotmore
