U.S. citizens included on Justice Department list of 400 alleged noncitizens, Washington state says

October 29, 2026 / 1:30 PM EDT / CBS News

Washington — Washington state's chief election official told the Justice Department on Wednesday that a list of 400 people the federal government alleges are noncitizens who are registered to vote in the state is "not reliable" and contained "many" people who are U.S. citizens.

Steve Hobbs, the Washington secretary of state, was responding to a letter from two federal prosecutors in the state calling for ballots received from the suspected noncitizens to be set aside and not counted until their citizenship status could be verified.

Prosecutors Neil Floyd and Pete Serrano sent their letter to Hobbs on Monday, just over one week before the Nov. 3 elections, which will determine which party controls the House and Senate. Voting has been underway in Washington since mid-October, and more than 1.3 million mail ballots had been returned as of Wednesday.

But Hobbs said a preliminary investigation of the government's list found that "many of the persons on your list are United States citizens." It also contained records for a "significant number" of people who were not currently registered to vote in Washington or whose registrations are inactive, according to the secretary of…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/entertainment/