Voter Rolls Under Scrutiny in Washington State Request

The US Department of Justice has asked the state of Washington to set aside over 400 ballots from voters who it suspects may not be citizens. The request was made on Monday as part of an ongoing effort by the Trump administration to scrutinize voter rolls and potentially intervene in election results.

According to a news release, Neil Floyd, a US attorney in Washington, has asked the state's secretary of state to review a list of over 400 registered voters who may be non-citizens. These individuals are believed to have cast ballots in multiple elections, raising concerns about their eligibility to vote. The Justice Department claims that this is just the tip of the iceberg.

The request comes as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to inject itself into election processes across the country. This includes a recent legal battle in California, where the administration sought to separate thousands of ballots from voters it suspected may be non-citizens. However, its efforts suffered a setback when it failed to block certification of election results.

The Justice Department has given Washington state 24 hours to review the list and verify citizenship records for the over 400 registered voters in question. This development follows NBC News' report last week that the department was considering making similar requests to other states with mail-in elections, where ballots are sent to all registered voters.

As part of its efforts to identify and remove ineligible voters from state rolls, the US Department of Justice has asked Washington state to set aside approximately 400 ballots linked to individuals it suspects may be noncitizens.

The request comes as Washington's Secretary of State Steve Hobbs' office reviews a list of potential noncitizens who have registered to vote. His office is being cautious in its response, citing concerns that following the Justice Department's lead could put voters at risk of harassment or other repercussions.

According to officials, the department's search for ineligible voters involved cross-checking lists of permanent legal residents against voter registration records. This process aims to identify individuals who may have mistakenly or intentionally registered to vote without being eligible to do so.

Washington state has more than 5 million registered voters on its rolls, and while it is not uncommon for noncitizens to inadvertently end up on the list, officials emphasize that voting as a noncitizen carries serious penalties.

The Trump administration has taken a more aggressive approach in Washington state, asking officials to set aside 400 ballots from voters it claims may be noncitizens. This move comes as part of a broader effort by the Justice Department to intervene in election certification and ballot counting processes.

In a separate development, the administration sued California last week, giving the state 48 hours to review its list of alleged noncitizen voters and sequester their ballots. The Trump administration has also sought to involve itself in other states' electoral affairs, including a recent lawsuit against Alaska over a Senate candidate with the same name as the Republican incumbent.

The Justice Department's actions have been met with skepticism by election experts, who argue that federal law does not grant the department authority to intervene in election certification or ballot counting. This lack of clear jurisdiction has led some experts to question the legitimacy of the administration's lawsuits.

The appeals court's ruling against the Trump administration in Washington state is a significant setback for its efforts to influence election outcomes, and it remains to be seen whether other courts will follow suit.