Trump, DOJ sued over ‘flagrantly unlawful’ demand Washington set aside 400 ballots 

Pro-voter groups sued President Donald Trump and top federal agencies over their “flagrantly unlawful, chilling, eleventh-hour operation” to force Washington state to set aside ballots from over 400 people the administration claims are noncitizens illegally registered to vote.

OneAmerica Votes, the Latino Community Fund of Washington and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union* filed the complaint Friday after the Department of Justice (DOJ) ramped up its intimidation efforts toward state officials who rejected the request. 

“Defendants’ list is not evidence of anything, and their deeply chilling threats of federal penalty for election officials and others who fail to conform to their demands are baseless,” the groups said.

Washington is the second state to be targeted by DOJ orders to set aside ballots over unproven allegations of noncitizen voting. The DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have threatened local election officials with prosecution if they don’t comply. The demand comes after voting is already underway.

The Trump administration earlier this month sued to stop California from processing and tabulating ballots from 20,000 potential voters the DOJ alleges without evidence are “likely noncitizens.” The DOJ has lost three times in court, with a federal judge finding the demand violates longstanding constitutional principles, including the Elections Clause.

“In Washington, Defendants now attempt the same attack on voters and election officials, but by a different route, hoping to bypass the scrutiny of the judiciary and instead coerce local election administrators to abide by their demands,” the pro-voting group said in Friday’s filing.

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs (D) described the federal government’s list of 405 alleged noncitizen voters on the state’s voter rolls as a “dumpster fire.” Election officials said a preliminary review showed the list includes U.S. citizens, inactive voters and people who are not currently registered to vote.

“[I]ndeed, the sloppiness of Defendants’ work is evident in many ways on its face,” the pro-voter groups said.

The Trump administration has no legal authority to meddle in Washington’s elections and intimidate officials, the groups said. Its effort to do so violates the Voting Rights Act, the Administrative Procedure Act and the Tenth Amendment, they claim.

“The Court cannot let Defendants’ lawless ‘noncitizen voter’ operation continue. It is already causing irreparable harm. It is plainly designed to coerce Washington’s election officials into abandoning the procedures that state and federal law require, and it chills eligible voters—above all, naturalized citizens, the voters most likely to be misidentified by federal records—from exercising their right to vote,” the pro-voter groups argued.

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) represents the plaintiffs in this case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.