The Trump administration is stepping up its voter fraud crackdown less than three weeks before the November midterms, with a series of federal charges and a lawsuit against California over ballots linked to people the government says may be noncitizens.
The Justice Department said Monday it had charged 28 people in California with election-related crimes. The announcement followed the department’s lawsuit against the state, which seeks a court order to stop ballots associated with more than 20,000 people it considers "likely" noncitizens from being counted. California officials dispute the federal government’s claims and say its list is unverified.
The dispute has also drawn threats against election workers. President Donald Trump has threatened California officials with jail over counting ballots tied to people the administration has flagged. The Justice Department separately warned that local workers who knowingly process or tabulate ballots submitted by noncitizens could face investigation or prosecution.
Newsweek has reached out to the Justice Department, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk for comment.
The Justice Department said it has charged 113 people in 20 states with illegal voting and illegal registration offenses over the last seven weeks. The cases involve allegations including noncitizens voting in federal elections, false claims of citizenship on voter registration forms and voting more than once.
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Recent department announcements show the pace of the enforcement push:
- October 5: DOJ announced charges involving 16 noncitizens in election-related cases.
- October 12: The department announced charges involving 16 people in cases including illegal voting and fraudulent registration.
- October 16: DOJ announced charges involving 16 people in North Carolina, New York and Idaho.
- October 19: Federal authorities charged 28 people in California as part of "Operation Protect the Vote." DOJ said 11 were arrested.
These are allegations, not findings of guilt. The Justice Department says criminal complaints, indictments and information outline allegations; defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
California Officials Face Pressure Over Ballots
The DOJ lawsuit says federal officials identified more than 20,000 people on California’s voter rolls who they believe are likely noncitizens. It argues that the state should have set aside ballots connected to people on that list while checking their citizenship status. The department says California declined to do so.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said the state had not been given enough information to verify the list and challenged the federal government’s demand. California officials have also said the state has safeguards to prevent noncitizens from registering to vote.
The 28 people charged in California were identified by the DOJ as foreign nationals. Prosecutors allege that some falsely claimed U.S. citizenship when registering and that some voted in federal elections. The department has not established that all people on its list of more than 20,000 voted unlawfully.
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Could California Election Officials Really Go to Jail?
California election officials could theoretically face federal prosecution if prosecutors proved they intentionally helped someone commit an election crime. But a Justice Department warning is not the same as proving criminal liability, said Michael T. van der Veen, a criminal defense attorney who represented President Donald Trump during his second impeachment trial.
"Noncitizens may not vote in federal elections, but identifying someone as a likely noncitizen doesn't mean that an election official committed a crime by processing that person’s ballot," van der Veen told Newsweek. "Whether prosecutors can prove the officials facilitated unlawful voting rather than carrying out their election-administration duties is the real question."
The Justice Department’s warning cited federal laws prohibiting noncitizens from voting in federal elections and making people who aid or abet a federal crime punishable as principals.
Van der Veen said prosecutors would have to prove that an underlying crime occurred, that an official took affirmative steps to help it happen and that the official intended to facilitate it.
"It is not enough to show that an official’s actions inadvertently helped someone else commit an offense as there needs to be evidence that the official knowingly participated in the unlawful conduct and acted with the intent to help it succeed," he said.
Mark Graber, a regents professor in the University System of Maryland and constitutional law scholar, said prosecutors would have to show an official counted a ballot while knowing the voter was ineligible.
"If the voter's status is disputed, the official could not have known that the voter is a noncitizen," Graber told Newsweek.
David Froomkin, an assistant professor of law at the University of Houston Law Center who teaches election law and criminal law, concurred.
"This is not a serious legal claim. These criminal laws require a knowing violation of the rules about voter eligibility," Froomkin told Newsweek.
"Conceivably an election official could be liable as an accomplice if they knowingly facilitated voting by someone whom they knew to be ineligible to vote, but that is clearly not what is going on here," he added.
Contact Newsweek editors for this story: Robert Greenall and Ben Kelly