Schumer, Jeffries and Party Committees Sue to Stop Federal Voter Purges Based on 'Likely Noncitizen' Lists

Democratic congressional leaders and the party's national campaign committees sued President Donald Trump and senior administration officials in federal court in Washington on Tuesday, Oct. 20, seeking to stop what they call an illegal federal effort to control voter rolls and ballots two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.

The plaintiffs include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Governors Association, NBC News reported. The Los Angeles Times reported that the plaintiffs also include the Nevada State Democratic Party and Erick Jose Jimenez, a California voter who has been a naturalized U.S. citizen since 2006 and who, according to the complaint, "fears that he will be unlawfully targeted for voting and disenfranchised (or worse)."

The defendants are Trump, the Justice Department, Attorney General Todd Blanche, the Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The case was assigned to Chief U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, an appointee of former President Barack Obama whom the White House has criticized for rulings against the administration, according to NBC News and the Washington Examiner.

The 44-page complaint asks the court to bar the administration from purging legally registered voters from statewide voter lists or denying ballots to legally registered voters, according to NBC News. It also seeks a ruling that the administration has illegally threatened state election officials with prosecution. The suit argues that Congress left voter list maintenance to the states, subject to a limited federal enforcement power, and alleges violations of the 10th Amendment and other federal law. "None of this is lawful," the complaint states, according to the Washington Examiner.

The complaint opens with a broad attack on the president. "For over a decade now, President Donald J. Trump has bombarded the American people with lies and misinformation about American elections and voter fraud," it says. "While these lies have been debunked at every turn, that has never deterred the President from employing them as a pretext to seize control over elections, even as courts overwhelmingly reject that effort."

At the center of the case are federal lists of registered voters the government says are likely noncitizens. The suit calls them "shoddily compiled lists of supposed noncitizens — target lists that have crumbled upon the barest inspection." In Nevada, the complaint says, the Department of Homeland Security initially said it had identified nearly 16,000 noncitizens registered to vote, then narrowed the figure to 185, and Nevada officials told the federal government that all 185 appeared to be citizens, the Washington Examiner reported.

In California, the Justice Department sued state election officials on Oct. 15, asking a judge to bar them from counting mail ballots cast by people federal agencies identified as "likely" noncitizens until their citizenship could be verified. The department said it had sent the state more than 20,000 names. California officials have called the information unverified and declined to set ballots aside.

Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan said Wednesday that only about a third of the voters the Justice Department asked the county to review, 7,035 of 20,930, even have addresses in the county, the Los Angeles Times reported. His office said a preliminary analysis of a subset found many were born in the United States, were not registered or had never voted.

Federal officials defend the lists. On Monday, prosecutors charged 28 lawful permanent residents in California with fraudulent registration and other election crimes as part of what they called Operation Protect the Vote. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli in Los Angeles said the charges "prove our list is accurate and that noncitizens are actually voting," according to the Los Angeles Times. At least 11 were arrested, the Examiner reported, and some of those charged told a court they had no recollection of registering.

Other officials have acknowledged flaws. Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said Monday that "there may be some names on there who, it turns out, ultimately are citizens," and a Homeland Security official said in a court filing that "discrepancies" had been found in about 189 records, the Times reported. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has called the alleged instances of noncitizen voting "a drop in the bucket" compared with the state's 23 million registered voters.

White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said that while "Democrats and the media continue to dismiss concerns about voter fraud, the Trump Administration is taking decisive lawful action to protect our elections," including by "prosecuting election crimes, strengthening election infrastructure security, and protecting vulnerable voters from fraud and coercion." "Anyone who illegally votes in our elections will be held accountable," she said. A Justice Department spokesperson said "election integrity is a top priority" and that the department's actions are "grounded in the law and being litigated in open court."

The lawsuit is backed by Democratic elections lawyer Marc Elias, the Times reported. It follows a similar suit filed in the same court last month by the UCLA Voting Rights Project on behalf of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights and a California voter. Over the past year, the Justice Department has sued dozens of states seeking detailed voter records; those suits have been unsuccessful in at least 26 states, including some led by Republicans, according to the Examiner.

Election experts say isolated voter fraud does occur but that there is no evidence of widespread fraud, the Times reported. No hearing date had been publicly set as of Thursday.