How Trump's Noncitizen Voter Lists Could Follow Tuesday's Midterms Into Court
The Justice Department has pressed five states over voters it calls likely noncitizens and is suing California over 20,000 ballots. Judges have rejected the effort so far — but Reuters reports the lists could still be used to contest close results.
As Americans head to the polls on Tuesday, lists the Trump administration has compiled of possible noncitizen voters could be used to contest the validity of the results, Reuters reported in an explainer read in full this cycle. The administration has acknowledged sending letters to election officials in five states — California, Washington, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Nevada — as of October 30, saying it had identified noncitizens on their voter rolls, according to a Justice Department document seen by Reuters. Florida is not among the five states named.
In an October 13 letter, the Justice Department demanded that California not count ballots from about 20,000 registered voters who federal agencies believe are likely noncitizens without first verifying their citizenship. State officials rebuffed the requests, and the Justice Department is now suing California to block the state from counting any ballots from the list. Noncitizen voting is illegal and can lead to jail time, fines and deportation; at the same time, a Reuters investigation in July found just 129 cases in which noncitizens were federally charged with voting illegally since Congress created the federal statute in 1996, many of them stemming from confusion or administrative errors rather than intentional fraud.
The courts have so far sided with the states. On October 28, a federal judge in California rejected the Justice Department's bid, saying the move would "wreak havoc" on the November 3 elections and questioning the reliability of the list, and a federal appeals court upheld the ruling on October 30, citing a material risk of disenfranchising eligible voters. The department would "probably" appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said on Saturday. Legal experts told Reuters the lists could still give a losing candidate a basis for challenging a close result, even if the administration struggles to prevail in court — one more reason Tuesday's closest races, Florida's included, may not end when the polls close.
