Trump administration asks Washington to set aside ballots from more than 400 suspected noncitizen voters

The Trump administration on Monday asked Washington state to set aside any ballots received from more than 400 people it alleges are registered to vote without US citizenship, less than two weeks after making a similar demand in California.

In a letter to Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, the Justice Department said it had identified 1,500 votes cast by more than 400 people in prior elections. It asked the state to set aside any ballots they might cast in next month's midterm elections until state officials can confirm they are legally eligible to vote.

Washington has more than 5 million registered voters, and the state issues mail ballots to all of them.

At a news conference, Charles Neil Floyd, the acting US attorney in Seattle, said he believed the 405 voters identified so far represented 'the tip of the iceberg'. He said: 'Because of limitations the state has placed on our investigation, we've only been able to uncover a fraction of the total number.'

Much of the list was built based on 'recent contacts' with suspected noncitizens, Floyd said, because federal officers are now routinely checking to see if the people they interact with are registered to vote. Without access to state records, proving someone illegally voted will be difficult, he said. The Justice Department has demanded information including addresses, dates of birth, driver's licence numbers and partial social security numbers.

Hobbs said he was reviewing the Justice Department's request. His office noted that the data shared by the department included the last time each of the 405 people voted. One was in 1994.

Hobbs said: 'The timing of this request – one week before the general election – is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results.'

The Washington request marks the third time this month that the Justice Department has brought a direct state challenge as voting is under way. All three states – Washington, California and Alaska – have House or Senate races that will help determine the balance of power in the Capitol. The race for Washington's third congressional district is one of the most competitive in this year's midterms, and Democrats count Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez's re-election as crucial to retaking the House majority.

In California, the Justice Department sued as part of a similar attempt to require the state to set aside mail ballots from up to 20,000 people the federal government suspects may not be citizens. Another lawsuit filed in Alaska last week seeks to delay certification of the vote if the Republican incumbent does not win.

In California, a panel of federal appellate judges heard rare Sunday arguments and questioned the timing, constitutionality and authority of the Justice Department's demand. On Monday, they declined to rule on the expedited timeline the department requested and sent it back to a lower court. California Attorney General Rob Bonta vowed to fight back against the administration's 'unlawful overreach' at every turn, and Governor Gavin Newsom accused Trump of an assault on democracy.

Los Angeles County Assistant Registrar-Recorder Monica Flores said in a court filing that her staff went through a sample of 200 records from the administration's list. They found the sample included cancelled or inactive registrations, people with no voting history and voters who appeared to have been born in the United States.

The Justice Department told Washington it anticipates sending the state an additional list of people it suspects are not citizens prior to election day. It also noted that some of the people it suspects registered without citizenship may have since become naturalized.