‘It's a dumpster fire’; Sec. Hobbs rejects DOJ claims of voter fraud in WA
King County election leaders address federal voter fraud claims
Washington state and King County election officials are assuring voters that ballot drop boxes are highly secure and dismissing a federal non-citizen voter list as a deeply flawed document.
OLYMPIA, Wash. - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs is sparring with the U.S. Department of Justice, calling their claims of voter fraud in the state a "dumpster fire disguised as a legal document."
The comments came during a press conference Hobbs held on Thursday, less than a week before the 2026 midterm elections. Hobbs spoke in support of the state's election security systems, challenging claims made by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Western Washington alleging that hundreds of noncitizens have illegally registered to vote.
The backstory:
U.S. Attorneys Neil Floyd and Pete Serrano — representing the Trump administration in the districts of Western Washington and Eastern Washington, respectively — wrote a joint letter to the Secretary of State's Office alleging they found a list of 400 people illegally registered to vote, and demanding the Secretary of State not count their votes.
They claimed that many on the list are "green card" holders and are not permitted to vote in U.S. elections.
Hobbs roundly rejected the letter, saying that their offices frequently collaborate in the months leading up to elections, and says the public manner in which they made these claims amounts to political theater.
"Given the Department of Justice’s recent acts of election interference in California, Alaska, and now in Washington, it would be particularly inappropriate for Washington to simply assume the Department’s unsupported allegations here are credible," wrote Hobbs.
Hobbs calls Trump administration's list ‘garbage’
What they're saying:
On Thursday, Hobbs held a press conference to lay out why he believes the federal data is fundamentally flawed and dangerously timed.
"I’m not going to do anything with this list because it’s garbage," Hobbs told reporters, calling the USAO's letter a "dumpster fire disguised as a legal document rife with mistakes."
According to Hobbs, an initial review by state staff revealed glaring discrepancies throughout the 403-name document provided by the Department of Justice. Hobbs said a significant number of the individuals listed are not registered to vote or are on inactive status, several were duplicates, and some had their U.S. citizenship confirmed through state birth certificates.
He also pointed to clerical carelessness in the federal filing, noting the Justice Department misspelled voter "rolls" and erroneously listed Election Day as Nov. 2 instead of Nov. 3.
Steve Hobbs speaks at a press conference, rejecting DOJ claims of voter fraud in Washington. (FOX 13 Seattle)
By the numbers:
Hobbs argued the federal government's claims of widespread noncitizen voting run counter to decades of recorded election data. Over a 43-year period from 1982 to 2025, Hobbs said, Washington has documented only 15 instances of noncitizens voting — representing roughly 0.000006% of all ballots cast. Between 2006 and 2025, only five such cases were identified.
"The federal government tries to [make] claims about voter fraud, but the numbers, they just don't pan out," Hobbs said. "We have never said that there are none on there. However, the issue is, if this person votes, they’ve committed a Class C felony."
Legitimate concerns or political theater?
Dig deeper:
The secretary expressed frustration that federal law enforcement was directing scrutiny at legitimate voters on the eve of an election rather than helping local officials defend against outside threats. Hobbs revealed that the Secretary of State’s Office was recently targeted by a cyberattack aimed at disrupting its online ballot drop box locator map.
"Now, typically, at this moment in time, it's the federal government that works with us," Hobbs said. "Instead, what they’re doing is they’re sending this dumpster fire […] It makes you wonder if they’re trying to set up a narrative."
Hobbs added that federal officials should instead focus on institutional delivery issues affecting legitimate voters, noting that roughly 20,000 ballots went uncounted during the primary election due to U.S. Postal Service postmark delays.
Appearing alongside Hobbs, King County Elections Director Julie Wise addressed questions regarding how noncitizens might end up on rolls through the state's motor voter system at the Department of Licensing. Wise explained that accidental registrations are rare and usually stem from misunderstandings or clerical error, but emphasized that residents regularly contact her office to cancel registrations when they receive a card by mistake.
"They may be on the voter rolls, but don't actually vote," Wise said, reiterating that Washington’s system requires proof of citizenship for automatic voter registration via enhanced driver's licenses, while standard applications require explicit opt-ins and legal attestations under penalty of perjury.
Wise said King County expects a 75% voter turnout — representing roughly 1.1 million returned ballots — and encouraged voters not to wait until the final hours on Election Day to return their mail-in packets to one of the county's 100 secure drop boxes.
Hobbs closed by reiterating that Washington maintains established legal mechanisms for challenging voter eligibility through county auditors and prosecutors, but said blanket purges based on unverified federal lists violate state and federal law.
"There’s a right way to do things," Hobbs said. "The right thing to do is maybe work with us months ahead, versus giving us a list one week before the election, which is against federal law."
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The Source: Information in this story comes from the Secretary of State's Office and the U.S. Attorney's Office in Western Washington, as well as previous coverage from FOX 13 Seattle.