What's at stake?
It's latest escalation in a battle the federal government has waged against local governments over the ongoing midterm elections.
The Trump administration’s Department of Justice late last week gave Fresno County elections officials just 48 hours – until Sunday morning – to start identifying non-citizens on voter rolls, the latest escalation in a battle the federal government has waged against local governments over the ongoing midterm elections.
Every California county elections official has received the letter, The New York Times reported.
The letter, signed by Eric Grant, US Attorney for the Eastern District of California, and delivered to James Kus, Fresno County’s Registrar of Voters and County Clerk on Friday morning, provides a list of 670 registered voters who federal officials suspect may not be U.S. citizens, and demands that county officials commit to providing personal information about each individual on the list to verify their status, from Social Security numbers to driver’s licenses to their voter registration applications, within 48 hours.
They also ask that the county “segregate” ballots from these individuals from the rest of the ballots coming in until their citizenship status can be confirmed.
The letter suggests that election officials who don’t cooperate with the demand will be subject to criminal prosecution for “aiding and abetting” a federal crime.
Kus confirmed to Fresnoland on Friday evening that he received the letter but wouldn’t say whether Fresno County will cooperate with federal officials, but noted the existing laws and procedures for removing voters for fraud.
“Maintaining accurate voter registration records is a fundamental responsibility of our office. Federal and state laws are clear on how voter eligibility is established – and any action to remove a voter from eligibility must be based on verifiable information, not assertions of unconfirmed data matching,” Kus told Fresnoland in an email.
Election officials in Los Angeles County have already told the DOJ that they don’t plan to cooperate and share voter information with federal officials.
Dean Logan, Los Angeles County’s elections registrar, reportedly called the letters a “posture of intimidation.”
Over the past several months, Trump Administration officials have been increasingly loud in their claims that non-citizens voting in elections is widespread, despite little evidence of voter fraud in general, let alone widespread cases.
In July, federal officials claimed there were over 16,000 non-citizens on Nevada’s voter rolls. Then it was whittled down to 185. In September, Nevada officials reported back to the Trump Administration that, of that short list, everyone was confirmed to be a U.S. citizen.
Lisa Bryant, a professor of political science at Fresno State who specializes in election administration, raised concerns about the way federal officials are using data to decide whether someone is a citizen.
“They are laying the groundwork to potentially have the legal grounds to challenge the results of the election and to say that they need to seize ballots because they believe that the votes were not accurate,” Bryant told Fresnoland.
In last week’s lawsuit against California, the Trump Administration claimed that over 20,000 non-citizens were identified in the state’s voter rolls.
The DOJ announced charges against 28 non-citizens who they say voted in recent elections in a new sting last week. Three of them live in Fresno County, according to a press release. California has 19 million registered voters.
Bryant urges Fresno voters to stay calm and verify that their own information in the state’s election system is accurate. “Go online, check your registration status, make sure that the name on their registration matches the way you sign your ballot.”
She also suggested that given the time left before election day, voters should put their ballots in an official dropbox or at a voter center, instead of dropping them in the regular mail.
“This is part of a strategy that the current administration has been undertaking all year to try and undermine people’s confidence in the election and trust in the system,” she added.
“But people should vote and be confident in their vote.”
