President Donald Trump has threatened California election officials with jail if they count ballots cast by people the administration has identified as possible noncitizens. It comes after the DOJ filed a lawsuit against California on Thursday, over the state’s refusal to review a list of more than 20,000 names the department said were likely noncitizens and discard the ballots of anyone confirmed whose status could not be confirmed. The state had been given 48 hours to do this after officials received the list, on a USB drive, on Tuesday.
California declined, saying it did not consider the list secure or substantiated. It also revealed new details about how the department compiled the list. Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter sent the letter about possible criminal action to Peter M.
Bollinger, assistant county counsel for Los Angeles County. California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and Logan were copied on the letter. Newsweek has contacted offices for Weber and Logan, via email outside of normal working hours, for comment.
State officials argue that complying with the DOJ’s request would be violating federal law, that the list is unsubstantiated and that the deadline was unreasonable. When Weber responded to the DOJ, she called the allegations “vague” and argued that it would be unlawful to comply because of the National Voter Registration Act generally prohibits systematic voter-roll removals within 90 days of a federal election. She went on to say that “if the federal government possesses proof that certain registered voters in California are ineligible,” she would “welcome the opportunity to review” the evidence.
Similarly, in response to Thursday’s lawsuit, Logan said in a statement: “We cannot withhold or refuse to count ballots based solely on unverified allegations, nor can we disregard the legal requirements governing our election.” The DOJ has asked U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to block the state from counting mail ballots from people it has flagged as likely noncitizens until their citizenship can be verified. It said California “refused to independently verify the citizenship of people included on the list” or “agree to work with the Federal Government to verify citizenship status before tabulating those voters’ votes.” The complaint argued that the federal law that makes it illegal for noncitizens to vote overrides California’s election procedures, and that continuing to count the ballots cast by those on the DOJ’s list without further verification would amount to “knowingly facilitat[ing] unlawful voting.” The DOJ has rejected arguments that the list is not secure, with McCotter saying in his Friday letter that the drive was password-protected and hand-delivered.
McCotter also rejected California’s invoking of the 90-day rule, saying “applies only to systematic list-maintenance programs—not to targeted, individualized evidence of unlawful voting identified by federal law enforcement.” “Noncitizen voting in a federal election is a federal crime—and knowingly facilitating such conduct is equally unlawful,” he said.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
