THE DAILY BS: HOW MUCH CAN YOU HANDLE?

SPARE ME THE BS (I’ve got things to do)

• Federal officials identified 405 Washington registrants they say might be ineligible because of citizenship status.
• The Justice Department says those individuals collectively cast more than 1,500 ballots in earlier elections.
• Secretary of State Steve Hobbs says his office found U.S. citizens among the flagged names and wants individualized proof.

LAY IT ON ME (I’ve got time)

Washington state has become another battleground in the fight over whether government agencies know who is actually eligible to vote.

And the numbers deserve attention.

Federal prosecutors say they identified 405 individuals who were or had been noncitizens and appeared on Washington voter-registration records. Acting U.S. Attorney Neil Floyd said those individuals collectively cast more than 1,500 ballots in prior elections.

The Justice Department wanted state officials to take steps to preserve ballots connected with questioned registrations while eligibility could be investigated.

That’s when the trouble started.

Democratic Secretary of State Steve Hobbs rejected the request, saying a preliminary examination had found U.S. citizens on the list of names provided by federal authorities.

His office also said some listed individuals were no longer active registered voters. Hobbs argued that lawful ballots could not be withheld on the strength of an unreliable list without individualized evidence.

So now we have federal prosecutors warning about potentially illegal votes and a state election official saying federal investigators have mixed American citizens into their list.

There are two serious problems here, and neither deserves to be waved away.

First, noncitizens cannot legally vote in federal elections. Americans have a right to expect that rule to be enforced. A registration system that allows illegal voting needs fixing.

Second, investigators ought to be able to confirm a person’s eligibility before ordering election officials to interfere with that citizen’s ballot.

The Justice Department’s allegation that more than 1,500 ballots were previously cast is particularly important. If authorities can establish that ineligible noncitizens voted, the public deserves to know how it happened and what action followed.

If the list includes eligible Americans incorrectly flagged, those errors deserve correcting too.

Both sides ought to want reliable data. Instead they’re exchanging letters and legal demands while an election approaches.

Washington is exceptional at speeches about election integrity and equally gifted at warnings about voter suppression. How about trying the radical experiment of accurate records?

The public deserves answers based on documented identities and eligibility, not the political affiliation of the government employee holding the spreadsheet.

Federal authorities have raised serious claims. State officials have challenged the evidence. The next step should be proof.

Americans shouldn’t need a lawyer to demonstrate the government has the wrong person, and the government shouldn’t tolerate illegal ballots because officials never reconciled their own databases.

DBS WIRE SOURCES (I have all day)

• Washington Secretary of State — official response
• Spokesman-Review — 405-name dispute
• Department of Justice — Voting Section