DOJ Charges 28 Noncitizens With Voting Crimes in California. Prosecute Them, and Count Every Lawful Vote.

The facts come first below. My opinion follows in the section marked as opinion.

Federal prosecutors have charged 28 people across California with crimes tied to illegally registering to vote or voting while not U.S. citizens. Eleven were arrested Monday, just over two weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections, the Justice Department announced.

All 28 are lawful permanent residents, or green card holders, according to the department. Green card holders may live and work in the United States legally, but they cannot vote in federal elections. The department said the remaining 17 defendants will be taken into custody later. It called the effort "Operation Protect the Vote," a joint operation of all four U.S. attorney's offices in California.

The charges

The charges vary by defendant. According to the department, they include false statements on naturalization applications and fraudulent voter registration, both felonies carrying up to five years in prison. They also include voting by an alien in a federal election, a misdemeanor with a maximum of one year. Prosecutors allege the defendants falsely claimed citizenship to register, and that many later told immigration officials on naturalization papers that they had never registered or voted. Federal authorities said 21 of the 28 are suspected of actually casting ballots, some in more than one election, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The department's release notes that a complaint contains only accusations. Every defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

The fight over 20,000 names

Acting Deputy Attorney General Trent McCotter said each defendant appears on a list of more than 20,000 "likely noncitizen" registrants the department sent to California officials last week. "California refused to look at that list," he said in the release. "California must verify the citizenship of those more than 20,000 registrants before mail-in ballots are counted."

State and Los Angeles County officials refused a 48-hour demand to set those ballots aside. They argued that the department had offered no proof the voters were ineligible and had made similar claims in other states that turned out to be inaccurate, the Times reported. The department sued Thursday. On Friday, McCotter warned county attorneys that election officials who count ballots from the flagged voters could face prosecution as "aiders and abettors to a federal crime."

California officials have said the state has strong safeguards and that there is no evidence of widespread noncitizen voting, according to the Times. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli disagreed: "This is not a conspiracy theory. This is not made-up stuff."

McCotter said the administration has charged 113 people in 20 states with voting-related crimes in the past seven weeks, compared with 13 people charged under the Biden administration in four years. USA Today also reported the 113 national figure. California has more than 23 million registered voters.

Opinion: Honest weights, now with names attached

Last week I wrote that proof matters when the Justice Department asks California to set aside 20,000 ballots. On Monday it showed some. Twenty-eight people are charged by name, and 21 are accused of voting. If even one of them voted illegally, a citizen's vote was cancelled out. That is not a small thing, and California's leaders should stop treating it as one.

"A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight" (Proverbs 11:1). An election is a set of scales. Every illegal ballot puts a thumb on them. A state that will not work through a federal list name by name is not doing all it can to protect its own voters.

The same scales cut the other way, though. Twenty-eight is about one-seventh of 1% of 20,000. Monday's charges show that some names on the list belong to people prosecutors believe are noncitizens. They do not prove the other 19,972 are, and state officials say the department has offered no proof that they are. Holding all 20,000 ballots on the strength of 28 complaints would punish a crowd for what a few are accused of doing.

The law of Moses would not let a man be condemned on one witness: "at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established" (Deuteronomy 19:15). That standard should govern here too. Prosecute every case the evidence supports, and let juries decide. California should check the list name by name instead of refusing it outright. The department should share its evidence with state officials and the court so lawful voters are not swept up with the guilty.

Both sides claim to want honest elections. Monday gave them a way to prove it: check the names, try the cases and count every lawful vote.

For the background on this fight, read DOJ Gives California 48 Hours to Review Noncitizen Ballot List.