The U.S. Department of Justice has told West Virginia officials they could face criminal prosecution if non-citizens vote.
Secretary of State Kris Warner’s office received the letter July 7 from Harmeet Dhillon, assistant U.S. Attorney General with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division.
“This letter serves as a notice of the federal laws applicable to state and local election officials to ensure free, fair and transparent elections,” the letter states. “Federal law mandates that state and local election officials properly maintain election records and undertake certain actions to ensure that only eligible U.S. citizens cast votes in elections for federal office. …
“In addition to the Civil Rights Division’s authority to seek injunctive relief for violations of these laws, we are also authorized to prosecute criminal violations. … For example, knowingly retaining noncitizens on West Virginia’s “State Voter Registration List” (SVRL) and sending such individuals ballots, and then counting such ballots, would constitute the “procurement, casting or tabulation” of ballots that are known to be false in violation of section 12(2)(B) of the (National Voter Registration Act of 1993).”
Earlier this year, the DOJ sued West Virginia after Warner’s office denied former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi’s request for personal voter information such as names, birthdates, addresses and either the driver’s license numbers, the last four digits of Social Security numbers or unique Help America Vote Act identifier.
Warner has asked the federal judge to dismiss the DOJ case, saying he has “cooperated as much as West Virginia law would allow him to, but he has explained that state law does not allow him to release the list without redactions.”
Federal judges in several states have dismissed the DOJ suits, including Arizona, California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.
Interestingly, former West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner was acting chief of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division before Dhillon was confirmed last year. Mac Warner is the brother of current Secretary of State Kris Warner.
“Any election officer, including the chief election officer of the state, who knowingly retains noncitizens on the state’s SVRL or facilitates noncitizens in receiving and casting ballots could be subject to criminal liability,” Dhillon wrote. “An intentional act that is aimed at diluting the votes of citizens could also constitute a violation … which makes it unlawful for two or more persons to conspire to injure any person in the exercise of that person’s constitutional rights.”
Earlier this year, West Virginia lawmakers passed a resolution putting the issue of whether only United States citizens can vote in West Virginia elections in the hands of voters. It will appear as Amendent 1 on this fall’s general election ballot and will be called the Citizenship Requirement to Vote in West Virginia Elections Amendment.
