The Justice Department on Friday ordered California election officials to identify suspected noncitizens on voter rolls and set aside their mail-in ballot – warning that officials who knowingly count ballots cast by noncitizens could face criminal liability.

The stipulation marks an escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to scrutinize voter rolls as the government continues to double down on claims of voter fraud, fueled by Donald Trump’s baseless allegations of widespread election cheating.

The administration’s claims have faced scrutiny, and some initial findings have not held up under further review. In Nevada, for example, DHS told state officials that its initial finding of 15,900 potentially noncitizen registrants was preliminary and unvetted, and that it had confirmed only 185 through manual review.

Last month, Nevada officials told DHS their subsequent review found that all 185 were US citizens, a conclusion the federal agency disputes.

  • dhork@lemmy.worldEnglish
    16·
    21 hours ago

    I still can’t believe that in a system where you need to register to vote, registered voters are not believed to be registered.

    It’s because of a particular quirk in the law that Republicans have been mad about for years.

    When you register to vote, there is no Federal requirement that you actually show proof of citizenship. You still have to affirm (under penalty of perjury) that you are a citizen on the form, and that affirmation comes with severe legal penalties if you are lying.

    Republicans think that non-citizens are abusing this in droves. However, many non-citizens would like to be citizens someday. Why would they give the government a written document, with their address and identifying information, which confesses to a crime which leads to jail time and deportation, just for the opportunity to vote before they actually get their citizenship? State Governments have access to all the information after all, they would just need to look it up with the Feds to find out if it is correct, or needs to be flagged for review. It’s all bonkers. Registration fraud like this simply doesn’t happen.

    But some Republicans believe that myth so much that, in Republican-controlled states, if you show up to register with the Federal form to register (and not their State form that requires proof of citizenship), they put you in a type of voting purgatory [pdf warning] where they only let you vote for Federal offices.