# Washington state secretary of state fires back at DOJ over noncitizen voter claim: ‘Profoundly disappointing’

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/washington-state-secretary-of-state-fires-back-at-doj-over-noncitizen-voter-claim-profoundly-disappointing/
- Published: 2026-10-29T19:31:22+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-04T00:33:25+00:00
- Original publisher: The Hill (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/6182189-washington-official-responds-doj-voter-order/
- Topics: Americas, Art, Culture, Elections, Government, Politics, World

## Key points

- Federal prosecutors asked Washington to set aside ballots linked to more than 400 alleged noncitizens.
- Hobbs said an initial review found citizens and people without active registrations on the list.
- He asked for individual proof before officials take action against any voter’s ballot.

## Summary

Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs has rejected a US Justice Department request to set aside ballots from more than 400 people federal prosecutors allege are noncitizens. Prosecutors said the people appeared to be illegally registered and asked the state to keep any ballots they cast separate until their citizenship could be checked. Hobbs called the timing of the request “profoundly disappointing”: Washington had already mailed ballots to active registered voters, and election day was barely a week away.

Hobbs said the federal list was unreliable. According to his preliminary review, it included US citizens as well as people who were not currently registered or whose registrations were inactive. He said election officials could not lawfully decline to process a registered voter’s ballot without individual proof of ineligibility, and invited prosecutors to provide such evidence. The dispute centres on how to investigate possible noncitizen voting while protecting eligible voters’ ballots during an election already under way.

## Coverage

- [The Hill: Washington state secretary of state fires back at DOJ over noncitizen voter claim: ‘Profoundly disappointing’](https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/6182189-washington-official-responds-doj-voter-order/)
- [Washington Secretary of State: Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs response to DOJ letter about voter rolls](https://www.sos.wa.gov/about-office/news/2026/washington-secretary-state-steve-hobbs-response-doj-letter-about-voter-rolls)
- [US Department of Justice: Federal data shows hundreds of non-citizens registered to vote in Washington](https://www.justice.gov/usao-edwa/pr/federal-data-shows-hundreds-non-citizens-registered-vote-washington)

---
Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.