Washington Says DOJ Flagged About 400 Voter Records, One From 1994; State Cites 113.5 Million Ballots and a Postmark Problem

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said Monday his office is reviewing a Justice Department letter requesting information on about 400 people on the state's voter rolls and "will only respond to requests that follow due process," according to a statement from the Office of the Secretary of State. The state said one of the roughly 400 records in the letter dates to 1994.

The letter came about a week before the Nov. 3 general election. "The timing of this request," Hobbs said, "is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results." He added, "We saw what happened in California and don't want Washingtonians to be harassed." The statement says the office "will not release information that is protected under state and federal law" and that it is assessing whether the information sought "complies with applicable state and federal laws."

At a news conference Monday afternoon, acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said the Justice Department found "over 400 noncitizens who have voted in Washington, and many of them have voted multiple times," according to Democracy Docket. Floyd said the identifications were made "with high confidence" but, the outlet reported, did not disclose evidence. He asked Washington to provide additional information on the people. The state's statement describes the letter as a request for information about "individuals appearing on Washington's voter rolls." The two accounts differ: the Justice Department characterizes the 400 as noncitizens who have voted, while the state's statement describes records on voter rolls and does not say any ballots were cast. Boston Uncut has not seen the letter, and the department has not published the names or its method.

The state offered several numbers. It said that since 1994, the year of the oldest flagged record, 113.5 million primary and general election ballots have been cast in Washington. It said voter fraud, including noncitizen voting, is "incredibly rare," that every voter signs a declaration of eligibility on the ballot return envelope, and that suspected cases are investigated and referred to county sheriffs and prosecutors. In an interview with FOX 13 Seattle, according to Democracy Docket, Hobbs said there have been only 15 documented instances of illegal voting in Washington since 1982. Those are the state's figures, and Boston Uncut has not verified them.

Hobbs also criticized the system the department used. The statement says it "frequently flags legitimate U.S. citizens as noncitizens" and "exposes voters' private data to a 10-year retention period." The statement does not name the system or provide an error rate. The Ninth Circuit opinion issued Monday in the California case described the federal approach as cross-referencing voter rolls with immigration records and third-party data to create "high-confidence" lists, and quoted California's sample, which found that in records with birthplace information 38.9 percent reported being born in the United States. That sample comes from California, not Washington, and is the defendants' own claim.

The statement also points to a separate problem: postmarks. Hobbs wrote that thousands of voters were "disenfranchised in our August Primary due to delayed postmarks," and that delays in postmarking "have already increased ballot rejections by 300 to 500% in some Washington counties." Of 1.9 million ballots returned in the August primary, "just over 20,000" were rejected for a late postmark, the statement says, compared with about 4,600 of 4 million returned in the 2024 general election. Those numbers work out to roughly 1.05 percent of ballots in August against about 0.12 percent in 2024, about nine times the rate, though the two elections differ in size and type.

The state also referred to earlier litigation, saying the Justice Department "lost their fight in court for Washington's complete voter rolls last month" and that courts have "unanimously" rejected the department's demands for confidential voter-roll information. Boston Uncut did not independently review those rulings. Hobbs also cited federal law that limits states from removing voters within 90 days of a federal election.

The Ninth Circuit's dismissal of the department's California appeal, issued the same day, sets context: the department sued California on Oct. 15 after sending a list of more than 20,000 names, and a federal judge is scheduled to hear its request Tuesday. Democracy Docket reported it was unclear whether Washington received a deadline like California's 48 hours. The state's statement does not mention one.

Washington votes primarily by mail, and ballots were mailed to eligible voters by Oct. 16, according to the Secretary of State's office. What the department will do next, and whether it will seek court action, had not been announced.