Washington groups sue Trump administration over demand to set aside 405 ballots

Two Washington civic groups and a labor union are suing the Trump administration. They want a federal judge to stop the Justice Department’s demand that the state set aside ballots from 405 people it says may be noncitizens.

OneAmerica Votes, the Latino Community Fund of Washington State and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union filed the lawsuit Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle. The suit names President Donald Trump, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and senior federal officials as defendants, according to the groups’ attorneys at Elias Law Group.

The groups say federal officials are threatening election workers and putting eligible citizens’ votes at risk days before Tuesday’s general election.

The DOJ’s demand

On Oct. 26, federal prosecutors sent Secretary of State Steve Hobbs a list of 405 people they said “are or were noncitizens” and were registered to vote. The letter acknowledged that some of them “may have subsequently naturalized,” according to the complaint.

Prosecutors linked those voters to about 1,500 votes in past elections. They gave Hobbs 48 hours to tell county officials to set aside the voters’ ballots and said more names would follow, according to KING 5.

Acting U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd said much of the list came from recent encounters between federal officers and people suspected of being noncitizens. Floyd said prosecutors haven’t charged anyone but added “I do anticipate that we will,” according to the Washington State Standard.

Hobbs refused. He said his office’s review found “many” U.S. citizens on the list, along with people who weren’t registered or had inactive registrations. Without proof that a specific voter is ineligible, he said, “it would be both irresponsible and illegal for election officials to decline to process a registered voter’s ballot,” according to KING 5.

What the lawsuit asks for

The suit alleges the administration violated the Voting Rights Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution, which leaves running elections to the states.

The groups want a judge to block federal officials from directing election workers to withhold or stop counting ballots based on federal lists of suspected noncitizens. They also want to stop threats to prosecute workers who process those ballots under state law. They’re asking the court to require federal officials to tell Hobbs and county auditors that the demands have been withdrawn or blocked.

“The Trump administration handed Washington a list of voters it admits may be naturalized citizens, then threatened to prosecute any election official who counts their ballots,” said Abha Khanna, a partner at Elias Law Group. “This is unlawful intimidation of election officials, plain and simple.”

Groups say members are worried about voting

All three groups say naturalized citizens are among their members. They say the federal demands are discouraging eligible voters and pulling time away from their turnout efforts.

“All U.S. citizens — no matter where they were born — have an undeniable right to cast their ballots, and we will exercise that right in Tuesday’s elections,” said Roxana Norouzi, executive director of OneAmerica Votes.

“Our vote is our voice, and no eligible voter should lose their voice because of a flawed list,” said Faye Guenther, president of UFCW Local 3000.

Lilliane Ballesteros, executive director of the Latino Community Fund, said the demands are “an attempt to sow fear and throw out eligible votes with no transparency.”

Similar fight in California

The Justice Department made a similar demand in California involving more than 20,000 people. According to the Washington complaint, a federal judge there rejected the request on Oct. 28, and the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals declined to revive it on Oct. 30.

Washington mails ballots to more than 5 million registered voters. State law requires voters to swear under penalty of perjury that they’re U.S. citizens and lays out a process for challenging a voter’s eligibility, according to the complaint.

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