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Trump admin demands Washington set aside 400 ballots it says are from noncitizens

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Cite

Barr, L., & Bruggeman, L. (2026, October 27). Trump admin demands Washington set aside 400 ballots it says are from noncitizens. ABC News (US). https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-admin-demands-washington-set-aside-400-ballots/story?id=137593785

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

ABC News (US) · collected 2026-10-27 · by Luke Barr, Lucien Bruggeman

Quick Summary

The Trump administration’s Justice Department has requested Washington state election officials to set aside more than 400 ballots it claims were cast by noncitizens, days before the midterms. This demand follows similar actions in California, where the DOJ filed a lawsuit against over 20,000 ballots potentially belonging to noncitizens. Washington’s Secretary of State Steve Hobbs expressed skepticism about the timing and intent behind this request, suggesting it aims to cast "unfounded suspicion" on election results.
Written by AI on 2026-10-29, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On October 26, 2026, the Trump administration asked Washington state to set aside ballots from over 400 voters it suspects of being noncitizens, just days before midterm elections. Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd in Seattle sent a letter to the Washington Secretary of State's Office requesting the review and sequestration of these ballots until citizenship can be confirmed. The Justice Department claims its investigation identified individuals by cross-referencing voter records with USCIS data but has faced skepticism over both timing and methodology. In response, Steve Hobbs, Washington’s secretary of state, stated on October 29 that the list contains many U.S. citizens and is not reliable, challenging the DOJ's request as potentially undermining election integrity.

Written for “Trump Administration Targets Noncitizen Voters in Washington” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 6 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Trump Administration Targets Noncitizen Voters in Washington
Politics · 7 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 36% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans right further right than this Hedges 3 of 33 claims Outlet record 66/100
The Hindu
⚖️ Leans right further right than this Hedges 3 of 22 claims Outlet record 77/100
NBC News
Hedges 2 of 24 claims Outlet record 78/100
CBS News
Hedges 6 of 23 claims Outlet record 65/100
Washington Examiner
Hedges 1 of 2 claims Outlet record 69/100
“The articles describe different legal actions taken by the Trump administration's Justice Department in separate states on distinct dates.”
New York Post
Hedges 1 of 10 claims Outlet record 66/100
“Article A discusses a lawsuit against California, while Article B mentions a request related to Washington state ballots. These are different events involving different states.”
CBS News
⚖️ Leans right further right than this Hedges 4 of 30 claims Outlet record 65/100
“The articles refer to different states: California in Article A and Washington state in Article B.”
Toronto Star
⚖️ Leans left Hedges 1 of 3 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles describe different states (California vs. Washington) and refer to distinct actions by the DOJ.”
Toronto Star
Hedges 8 of 38 claims Outlet record 64/100
“The articles describe different states (California vs. Washington) facing similar demands from the Justice Department, indicating separate but related incidents.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
14
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
36%
5 of 14 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
67/100
ABC News (US)'s corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
7
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-29 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

ABC News (US) · 1351 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Luke Barr
32 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 We will not be intimidated by a sham investigation."
🔮 DOJ warns state election officials they could face jail time if they fail to preserve records The Justice Department sent letters to election officials in multiple states.
🔮 A House Democrat is asking congressional appropriators for guardrails that would prevent President Donald Trump from exploiting a loophole in federal law to buy the East Potomac Golf Course that he's been pushing to renovate with taxpyer funds.
🔮 I'm frustrated that I got it in the middle of the night, but I'm much more concerned that it's filed on the public record." The assistant U.S. attorney in the hearing, John Borchert, struggled repeatedly as Faruqui asked him to explain the government's conduct, which the judge said was unlike any case he had ever seen in the history of D.C.'s district court. Faruqui ultimately granted the request from Flores' and Benavides' attorneys to strike the amended complaint from the docket and said he would continue Tuesday's hearing to determine whether prosecutors established probable cause in their initial complaint filed last week. "Why today on this one case have you changed the entire history of how you charge cases?" Faruqui asked of Borchert.
🔮 She could not immediately be reached for comment on Tuesday.
🔮 Unglesbee said he knew recipients of white powder letters 'took it serious and would have 'hazmat come in white suits' because 'anthrax is dangerous.'
🔮 The Justice Department is asking election officials in Washington state to set aside hundreds of ballots it says may belong to noncitizen voters, the latest move by the Trump administration to intervene in a state-run election just days before the midterms.
🔮 A federal judge has ordered a top Department of Justice official back into court after President Donald Trump posted on his social media account affirming that East Potomac Golf Course will close Nov. 15 for renovations — directly contradicting repeated assertions from administration officials in a hearing last week.
🔮 The report lays out a series of warning behaviors and signs that are typical for those who might carry out targeted workplace violence, like a 22-year-old service member who "experienced multiple stressors, including chronic pain resulting from a motorcycle accident, the ailing health of a loved one, harassment from peers, and numerous reprimands and citations at work due to poor performance and tardiness," before carrying out an attack that killed two on base and injured a third person.
🔮 In a follow-up post resharing the letter, Trump wrote "They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!"
Also by Luke Barr
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 32 articles by Luke Barr →
Lucien Bruggeman
12 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 DOJ warns state election officials they could face jail time if they fail to preserve records The Justice Department sent letters to election officials in multiple states.
🔮 "I did not know whether I might be arrested or what might happen next," Diaz said.
🔮 Judge David Carter, the federal judge assigned to the case, rejected the Justice Department's push for an emergency intervention based in part on what he called the administration's "unreliability" and "lack of credibility." Late last week, separate from its litigation against the state, the DOJ sent letters to every California county asking local elections officials to help identify potential voters who may be in the U.S. illegally, according to a letter described to ABC News. "Within 48 hours, we ask that you commit to working with DOJ and DHS to identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not," according to the letter sent by Justice Department officials.
🔮 About 6 in 10 Americans are confident the midterm elections will be conducted fairly and accurately, while nearly 4 in 10 Americans and about 3 in 10 voters are not confident , according to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos' KnowledgePanel.
🔮 The Justice Department is asking election officials in Washington state to set aside hundreds of ballots it says may belong to noncitizen voters, the latest move by the Trump administration to intervene in a state-run election just days before the midterms.
🔮 In a statement to ABC News on Tuesday, DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels accused California of "willful blindness."
🔮 During a press conference on Monday, Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter attracted some scrutiny when he acknowledged that the administration's list likely included errors, and that "there may be some names on there who it turns out ultimately are citizens.
🔮 In a follow-up post resharing the letter, Trump wrote "They will all go to jail for a long period of time!!!"
🔮 President Donald Trump will once again meet with the top investors in his namesake meme coin in November -- the third such gathering since his return to office -- in what critics call yet another example of the president attempting to profit from his position.
Also by Lucien Bruggeman
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 12 articles by Lucien Bruggeman →

Topics

California U.S. Washington state the Justice Department’s

Subjects

Washington GPE · 6× Trump PERSON · 3× the Justice Department’s ORG · 3× California GPE · 2× Hobbs PERSON · 2× U.S. GPE · 2× state ORG · 2× ABC News ORG · 1× DOJ ORG · 1× The Justice Department ORG · 1×

Narrative

A federal appeals court declined to intervene in that matter and said that the "emergency" the DOJ claimed was in part "self-constructed." Local officials in Los Angeles said a sampling of the 20,000 ballots surveyed showed a "high percentage" of people who say they were born in the U.S. "We saw what happened in California and don't want Washingtonians to be harassed," Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said in a statement on Monday responding to the Justice Department's letter.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-29
🔮 The Justice Department is asking election officials in Washington state to set aside hundreds of ballots it says may belong to noncitizen voters, the latest move by the Trump administration to intervene in a state-run election just days before the midterms.

Claims (14 extracted, 5 hedged)

Trump admin demands Washington set aside 400 ballots it claims are from noncitizen voters Washington's secretary of state expressed skepticism about the request's timing. uncertain
secretary → demand → timing
The Justice Department is asking election officials in Washington state to set aside hundreds of ballots it says may belong to noncitizen voters, the latest move by the Trump administration to intervene in a state-run election just days before the midterms. uncertain
it → ask → midterms
The move sparked backlash from state officials who said the Justice Department’s intention in publicizing these allegations so close to an election was to create "unfounded suspicion." asserted
intention → spark → suspicion
Federal prosecutors in Washington state claimed in a statement Monday that the more than 400 individuals on the list represented “only the tip of the iceberg.” asserted
individuals → claim → iceberg
The statement accompanied a letter sent by the state’s two U.S. attorneys demanding that election officials set aside any ballots belonging to individuals on the list. asserted
officials → accompany → list
ABC News has not seen the letter. asserted
News → see → letter
The Justice Department’s messaging in Washington on Monday echoes steps it took ahead of a lawsuit it filed last week against California, where it has sued to prevent the state from counting more than 20,000 ballots it claims may belong to noncitizen voters. uncertain
it → echo → voters
The Trump administration has promoted a number isolated cases of alleged noncitizen voting in recent weeks as evidence of rampant election fraud. asserted
administration → promote → fraud
But all available evidence suggests voter fraud and noncitizen voting remains exceedingly rare, and certainly not widespread enough to alter the outcome of any election. uncertain
fraud → suggest → election
A federal appeals court declined to intervene in that matter and said that the "emergency" the DOJ claimed was in part "self-constructed." Local officials in Los Angeles said a sampling of the 20,000 ballots surveyed showed a "high percentage" of people who say they were born in the U.S. "We saw what happened in California and don't want Washingtonians to be harassed," Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said in a statement on Monday responding to the Justice Department's letter. asserted
Hobbs → decline → letter
Hobbs wrote in his response that at least one of the individuals on the Justice Department’s list dates back to 1994. asserted
one → write → 1994
Since then, 113.5 million primary and general election ballots have been cast in Washington, according to the secretary of state’s office. uncertain
ballots → cast → office
"The timing of this request -- one week before the General Election -- is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results," Hobbs added. asserted
Hobbs → intend → results
"We are carefully reviewing the request and assessing the information sought to ensure that our response complies with applicable state and federal laws." asserted
response → review → laws
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