Federal prosecutors and the United States Department of Justice sent a formal demand to Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs requesting that state election administrators set aside and sequester mail-in ballots cast by more than 400 registered voters identified by federal authorities as suspected noncitizens.
Rather than allowing local county canvassing boards to process and tabulate these ballots through regular signature-verification channels, federal officials requested that county auditors deposit the questioned materials into segregated custody pending federal eligibility determinations.
The provision was enacted by Congress precisely to prevent erroneous removals from disenfranchising eligible citizens at moments when bureaucratic mistakes cannot be appealed or rectified before polls close.
State audits confirm that such bureaucratic errors rarely culminate in actual ballot casting, making the federal claim of extensive illicit voting uncorroborated by verifiable precinct tallies.
That precautionary deployment followed federal threat advisories and historical arson incidents that damaged collection boxes in Vancouver and Portland during prior election cycles, establishing an atmosphere of intense scrutiny around physical voting locations.
Federal prosecutors requested Washington state isolate mail ballots from 405 suspected noncitizens, prompting Secretary of State Steve Hobbs to cite the National Voter Registration Act's 90-day quiet period.