Investigative Team

Washington State Tick Tock Goes the Clock 2026 Midterm Election DOJ gives Steve Hobbs 24 hours to isolate 405 suspected noncitizen ballots or face legal action, second list coming Oct. 27, 2026 SEATTLE— Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd of the Western District of Washington and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano of the Eastern District in a letter addressed to Secretary of State Steve Hobbs demanded his office set aside any ballots cast by 405 people the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified, with a high level of confidence, as noncitizens who have voted 1,500 times in elections, ass recently as August 2026. A second list of additional suspected noncitizen registrants is expected before the Nov. 2 general election, the prosecutors wrote in their letter. “Some of these individuals have voted in Washington for over a decade and have voted more than two dozen times ... It is the United States’ belief that each of these individuals was sent a vote by-mail ballot from the State of Washington to participate in the November 2026 federal election,” Floyd and Serrano state in their letter to Secretary of State Hobbs. The U.S. Attorney’s Offices asked that any returned ballots from people on the list not be signature-verified or tabulated until citizenship can be confirmed. They set a deadline of noon Pacific time on Wednesday, October 28, warning that failure to implement the process would leave the United States with “no choice but to seek emergency relief.” “For years Washington State has had a mantra: our elections are ‘free, fair, and devoid of fraud.’ But our investigation shows not all of that is true – people who are non-citizens are registered to vote and are voting in our state,” Floyd said in a statement. “We have identified over 400 non-citizens who are registered to vote and have voted in multiple elections. This is only the tip of the iceberg. We will continue to investigate and identify those who are committing crimes by voting illegally.” Serrano added that the purpose of sharing the data was “to protect the sanctity of each citizen’s vote” and to ensure “that a Washington citizens’ votes are protected in this and future elections.” Many of those identified, prosecutors said, are lawful permanent residents, or green-card holders. While such residents have legal status, federal law bars noncitizens from voting in federal elections. “We have heard from green card holders who were registered against their knowledge via the Washington Motor Voter program,” the DOJ alleges in a supplemental press release. “Then they receive a ballot in the mail and assume they are legally registered – that simply is not the case.” The letter also references a July 2026 letter from Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division to Hobbs warning that the DOJ was examining records for noncitizen registrations. It states that the current request is separate from ongoing litigation over the full voter rolls. “Washington is now on notice that non-citizens are voting,” Floyd and Serrano said. “It is up to the state to take action to make sure that they are not allowing these non-citizens to vote illegally.” Individuals who knowingly and willfully falsely claim U.S. citizenship on voter registration applications can face federal charges, including false statements in connection with naturalization applications and fraudulent voter registration. Both are felonies carrying a maximum of five years in prison. Voting as a noncitizen can also jeopardize future naturalization efforts, because applicants must swear they have never claimed citizenship or voted. READ MORE BELOW Post by Lynnwood Times + article link: