Investigation Reveals Non-Citizen Voting in Washington State

Federal prosecutors announced on Monday that they have identified 405 individuals suspected of being non-U.S. citizens who participated in elections in Washington state, casting over 1,500 ballots across numerous elections.

Neil Floyd, the acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, indicated that federal authorities shared the names with state election officials, urging them to set aside the ballots cast by these voters while their eligibility is investigated.

Floyd expressed confidence in the findings, suggesting that the actual number of noncitizens who have voted in Washington might be significantly higher. He mentioned, “Through our investigation, we have confirmed with high confidence that non-citizens are voting in the state of Washington in federal and state elections. So far, we have identified over 400 non-citizens who have voted, many of whom have done so multiple times, totaling over 1,500 illegally cast ballots. However, this number likely doesn’t represent the full extent of non-citizen voting in Washington. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. From our preliminary sample, I’m quite sure we’re dealing with thousands of non-citizens who have participated in elections here.”

While Floyd did not provide a specific count to back his estimation that thousands may have voted illegally, he noted that the 1,500 ballots mentioned were allegedly cast over several decades.

This request is timely, coming just before the midterm elections on November 3.

Floyd explained that the Department of Homeland Security conducted comparative checks between publicly accessible Washington voter lists and federal databases to pinpoint registered voters believed to be non-citizens, later verifying whether those individuals actually cast ballots.

However, he noted that the investigation was challenging due to Washington’s refusal to share its entire voter registration database, which includes personal identifying information. Floyd remarked, “Washington has declined to provide the complete list of registered voters with identifying information. We have to verify this one person at a time. Access to the full database would make this process much more efficient. We could simply match Washington’s data with ours, resulting in immediate findings.”

Floyd’s office intends to pursue criminal charges against individuals who vote illegally, as well as those who knowingly assist them.

In related news, it was recently reported that Los Angeles County officials informed a court that they could not independently validate voters’ citizenship beyond what was declared on their registration applications. Additionally, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against California to halt the counting of mailed ballots from over 20,000 registered voters identified by federal officials as likely non-citizens until their citizenship could be confirmed. California officials, however, disputed the evidence supporting this list.