Times are tense for local officials under pressure from the Trump administration to restrict voting in Tuesday’s election — and some are pushing back.
On Wednesday, Contra Costa County’s Office of the Clerk-Recorder-Registrar denied a request for the personal information of hundreds of Contra Costa County voters. The administration asked for Social Security numbers, driver’s license numbers and voter registration data before the midterm election Tuesday.
The administration’s Department of Justice claims the records belong to noncitizens who are “likely aliens,” and requested any votes from those records not be counted until further notice. United States residents must be citizens to register to vote.
In the county’s rejection letter, county counsel Thomas Geiger said the registrar would not disclose the records information because “it would be unlawful and a breach of the voters’ trust.”
On Oct. 23, U.S. government officials showed up to hand-deliver papers to Contra Costa County clerk-recorder-registrar Kristin Connelly, who manages the county’s elections office. Connelly directed the officials to Geiger.
The papers demanded the county turn over and invalidate 407 voter records within 48 hours or face legal action.
“It’s unenforceable. It’s… yeah, it was threatening,” Connelly said.
The DOJ’s lawsuit came just days before Election Day, a high-profile event with much at stake for federal, state and local contests.
Registrar of voter offices like Connelly’s are already deep in the process of counting and sorting ballots that have been collected and turned in early. Roughly 100 volunteers are at work every day, unpacking mail-in votes to pre-count the votes before the official tally begins Tuesday.
“I’m wanting my staff to absolutely stay focused on the election we’re in the middle of so that they can be processing ballots, and you’ll see all of this today, that we’re very busy,” said Connelly on Wednesday during a tour of the facilities where ballots get sorted and scanned.
Contra Costa County is one of several California counties the DOJ is suing in an attempt to invalidate 20,000 voter records they say belong to noncitizens.
U.S. District Court Judge David Carter dismissed the DOJ’s case on Wednesday. At the hearing, Carter said California law allows up to 30 days for the election to be certified, and questioned whether the department needed the records immediately.
The DOJ immediately appealed that decision, and is escalating threats to include criminal subpoenas. In October, the agency threatened Los Angeles County they would criminally prosecute election workers who “knowingly tabulate ballots cast by individuals identified by federal agencies as noncitizens.”
Now, the DOJ has issued subpoenas to county election workers across the state, asking them to appear in court on Wednesday, the day after the midterm election, to testify as part of a criminal investigation.
Some observers are alarmed by the threatening nature of the demands.
David Becker, founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, worked with the DOJ on voting for seven years. Becker said the Trump DOJ’s actions reveal “a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference by federal officials.”
The DOJ is apparently using data from the Department of Homeland Security to identify registered voters they say do not have citizenship status. Becker said the DHS has not disclosed how they gathered this information.
“The DOJ doesn’t even seem to be aware of exactly what was done with that data and how it came about,” Becker said.
In his letter to the DOJ, Geiger said the Department of Justice had not given Contra Costa County “information about the source or accuracy of the allegations regarding these voters.”
‘Where did those other 170,000 go?’
In July, the DOJ said there were roughly 190,000 non-citizen voters in California, a much higher number than the DOJ’s current tally of 20,000. Either way, it is a small fraction of the 23 million registered voters in the state.
“Where did those other 170,000 go? Nobody knows,” Becker said.
The Trump administration has repeatedly requested voter records since taking office. In July of last year, the Trump administration demanded a list of all California voters plus their citizenship status and personally identifiable information.
California denied that request, and is one of 30 states to do so. At least 48 states and Washington, D.C. have received requests for complete registration lists.
Connelly said the controversy has created confusion and concern among voters, and she is fielding questions from citizens about whether elections are secure.
As a precaution, her office is hiring private security for the election buildings during the entire election process, replacing Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputies who would patrol the building on election night only.
“I’m trying to engage in the best practices to keep everybody safe,” Connelly said.