DOJ Gave Washington Until Noon Today to Set Aside 400-Plus Ballots; Letter Says Some on List May Have Since Become Citizens

The Justice Department gave Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs until noon Pacific time on Wednesday to set aside mail ballots cast by more than 400 registered voters that federal prosecutors say are noncitizens, warning that otherwise "the United States will have no choice but to seek emergency relief."

The demand is in an Oct. 26 letter signed by Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd of the Western District of Washington and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano of the Eastern District of Washington. The Digital Free Press reviewed the three-page letter, which the Lynnwood Times published. The deadline falls at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

What the Justice Department Letter Asks

The prosecutors write that the Department of Homeland Security gave their offices a list of people "who are noncitizens, who, with a high level of confidence, have voted in elections as recently as the August 2026 Primary elections." According to the letter, the list covers "over 400 individuals and over 1,500 total votes," and "some of these individuals have voted in Washington for over a decade and have voted more than two dozen times."

The letter also includes a qualification that has received less attention. It says the people identified "are or were noncitizens (i.e., they may have subsequently naturalized)." In other words, the letter itself allows that some people on the list may now be U.S. citizens.

The letter makes two requests. First, it asks Hobbs's office to review the list "within 24 hours of receipt of this letter to determine whether United States citizens are listed." Second, if a ballot from anyone on the list has been or is later returned, it asks the state to instruct election officials "to not verify the signature and/or tabulate the ballot until citizenship can be determined."

The prosecutors add that they expect "imminently" to receive a second list from DHS and will send it before the general election. They describe the request as "separate and apart" from the Civil Rights Division's effort to obtain Washington's full voter rolls.

In a news release, Floyd said, "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." The release says many of those on the list are lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, and that "we have heard from green card holders who were registered against their knowledge via the Washington Motor Voter program."

What Washington's Secretary of State Says

Hobbs's office said Monday it is "carefully reviewing the request" to make sure any response complies with state and federal law. "We take our responsibility to protect voter information seriously and will only respond to requests that follow due process. We saw what happened in California and don't want Washingtonians to be harassed," Hobbs said.

The office's statement says "one of the approximately 400 records in the DOJ letter is from 1994," and that 113.5 million primary and general election ballots have been cast in the state since then. It says the federal system used to build the list "frequently flags legitimate U.S. citizens as noncitizens," and notes that federal law limits removing voters within 90 days of a federal election. The statement also says the Justice Department "lost their fight in court for Washington's complete voter rolls last month."

Hobbs called the timing, one week before the election, "no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results."

The California Precedent

Washington law requires ballots to be mailed to every active registered voter, and ballots for the Nov. 3 election had to go out by Oct. 15, the letter notes. The Washington request follows a similar push in California, where the Justice Department sued over about 20,000 people it says are likely noncitizens on the rolls. On Monday, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit turned down the department's bid to quickly force California to set those ballots aside, Politico reported.

Federal law makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections. As of publication, neither the Justice Department nor Hobbs's office had said publicly whether the state would follow the protocol before the deadline.

Sources: Letter from Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano to Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (Oct. 26, 2026), published by the Lynnwood Times: https://lynnwoodtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/OCT26-Signed-Letter-to-Steve-Hobbs-RE-Alleged-Noncitizen-Voters.pdf ; U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington, news release (Oct. 26, 2026): https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdwa/pr/federal-data-shows-hundreds-non-citizens-registered-vote-washington ; Washington Secretary of State statement (Oct. 26, 2026): https://www.sos.wa.gov/about-office/news/2026/statement-about-washingtons-safe-and-secure-elections ; Lynnwood Times: https://lynnwoodtimes.com/2026/10/27/noncitizen/ ; Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/10/26/california-election-ballots-justice-department-ruling