Election expert sounds alarm on how noncitizens are landing on voter rolls

An election integrity expert has raised concerns that noncitizens may be registered to vote in California and Washington through automatic registration systems. The Justice Department says it identified thousands of suspected cases, but state officials dispute the findings and warn that acting on inaccurate data could wrongly exclude eligible voters.

Federal officials reported more than 20,000 likely noncitizens on California’s voter rolls and over 400 suspected cases in Washington, ahead of the 3 November midterm elections. California and Washington both require citizenship to register, but use different automatic registration processes; Washington’s secretary of state says the federal list includes citizens and people not currently registered. The states also challenge the accuracy of the Justice Department’s data and its use of the DHS SAVE database, which the agency says can help verify citizenship.