Federal investigators find more than 400 noncitizens registered to vote in Washington

The Justice Department says its investigators identified more than 400 noncitizens registered to vote in Washington state and has asked state election officials to segregate ballots suspected of being cast by people on the list.

The request puts federal officials’ allegations before Washington’s election administration, while the Justice Department’s letter also instructs the state to check whether citizens appear among those identified.

In a letter obtained by MS NOW, federal prosecutors asked Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to review the list within 24 hours and determine whether any listed people are citizens. The prosecutors also demanded that the state set aside ballots returned by suspected noncitizens.

Those are federal demands; the excerpts do not report whether Washington agreed to take either step. The Justice Department’s count is described in the coverage as more than 400 people. The US attorney’s offices for the Eastern and Western districts of Washington said many people on the list are green card holders with legal immigration status and permanent residency.

That detail distinguishes immigration status from citizenship, but does not resolve whether any particular person was eligible to register or vote. Neil Floyd, acting US attorney for the Western District of Washington, said the people identified were registered and had voted in multiple elections.

He characterized the findings as “only the tip of the iceberg.” Floyd’s office counted approximately 1,500 instances of noncitizens casting ballots, and he said some people had voted as many as 27 times. The reported total counts instances of voting, not necessarily distinct people. Floyd said the records extended back decades.

He described the earliest instance as possibly dating to 1984, while also saying the record appeared to reach the late 1980s or early 1990s. MS NOW reports that the Justice Department letter itself gave an election date of Nov. 2, 2026, although the outlet says Election Day is Nov.

3; that discrepancy concerns the date written in the letter, not the reported historical voting instances. The federal request follows a Justice Department lawsuit against California over that state’s refusal to set aside ballots on similar grounds, according to MS NOW.

The New York Post also reports that the department has sought to set aside roughly 20,000 mail-in ballots sent to people whose citizenship status is in question in Los Angeles County. Those proceedings provide a related example of the department seeking ballot segregation, but the Washington request concerns a separate list and state.

The central next step in Washington is whether Hobbs’s office reviews the names, identifies any citizens on the list and acts on the request to segregate ballots. The available account does not report a state decision or an independent verification of the federal investigators’ findings.