Leaders of federal law enforcement ask state to sequester ballots cast by those who appear to have illegally voted

Seattle - The leaders of the two U.S. Attorney's Offices for Washington State today called on state election officials to segregate ballots cast by more than 400 people who appear to be illegally registered to vote. Many of those on the list provided to the state are lawful permanent residents (LPRs), or "green card" holders. Although LPRs have legal immigration status in the United States, they are not U.S. citizens and are not permitted to vote in U.S. elections.

"For years Washington State has had a mantra: our elections are 'free, fair, and devoid of fraud.' But our investigation shows not all of that is true - people who are non-citizens are registered to vote and are voting in our state," said Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd. "We have identified over 400 non-citizens who are registered to vote and have voted in multiple elections. This is only the tip of the iceberg. We will continue to investigate and identify those who are committing crimes by voting illegally."

"Free and fair elections should be the concern of every United States citizen. Our purpose in sharing this data with the Secretary of State is to protect the sanctity of each citizen's vote," said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Pete Serrano for the Eastern District of Washington. "Our goal in sharing this information with the State of Washington is to ensure that a Washington citizens' votes are protected in this and future elections."

Only U.S. Citizens are allowed to vote. If someone is registered to vote and they are not a U.S. citizen, they should report that to the Secretary of State's Office to cancel their registration. We have heard from green card holders who were registered against their knowledge via the Washington Motor Voter program. Then they receive a ballot in the mail and assume they are legally registered - that simply is not the case.

In July, the head of DOJ's Civil Rights Division wrote to Washington's Secretary of State warning the Chief Election Officer that DOJ was examining records to see if non-citizens were registered to vote.

Our offices will provide a list of individuals who appear to be illegally registered and ask the Washington Secretary of State that these individuals' vote-by-mail ballots be set aside until these individuals' citizenship status can be confirmed. Washington is now on notice that non-citizens are voting. It is up to the state to take action to make sure that they are not allowing these non-citizens to vote illegally. We welcome the opportunity to work with Washington to uphold the integrity of our elections.

Defendants who knowingly and willfully lie under oath in their voter registration applications claiming they are U.S. citizens permitted to vote in Washington, can face criminal charges. If their fraudulent voter registration applications are approved and the defendants illegally vote in U.S. elections, they may face repercussions when attempting to become naturalized U.S. citizens. In their naturalization application they must swear that they had never claimed U.S. citizenship, nor had they registered to vote or voted in U.S. elections. So voting as a non-citizen can have serious consequences for their goal of becoming a U.S. citizen.

The possible criminal charges include making false statements in a naturalization application and some illegal voters could also be charged with fraudulent voter registration. Both charges are felonies that carry a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.

Press contact for the U.S. Attorney's Office is Communications Director Emily Langlie at (206) 553-4110 or [email protected].