Yellow Jacket InitiativeBy E. Lawrence Anderson, Yellow Jacket Initiative
As of Monday, November 2, 2026, about 10:30 a.m. ET. Primary source: the complaint, read in full (41 pages, with the court's filing header); the court docket, read the same morning through CourtListener's mirror of the federal courts' system. Every quotation below was checked against the complaint's text. Everything below that is not a quoted document is the plaintiffs' account; the government has not answered in court.
On Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, three organizations sued the President, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security in federal court in Seattle. They ask the court to stop a federal demand that Washington election officials hold the ballots of voters on a federal list. The case is OneAmerica Votes v. Trump, No. 2:26-cv-04223 (W.D. Wash.).
The government's side, first. Voting by a noncitizen in a federal election is a federal crime, 18 U.S.C. 611, and federal prosecutors may tell state officials what they believe the law requires and may investigate. As the complaint quotes it, the Oct. 26 letter asks that ballots be held until citizenship is determined, not cancelled. The government has not yet filed anything in this case.
The parties. The plaintiffs are OneAmerica Votes, the Latino Community Fund of Washington State, and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, represented by Elias Law Group. The defendants are President Trump; the Justice Department; Attorney General Todd Blanche; Charles Neil Floyd, the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington; Simon Peter Serrano, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District; DHS; and Secretary Markwayne Mullin. The State of Washington is not a party.
The demand, as the complaint describes it. On Monday, Oct. 26, Floyd and Serrano sent Secretary of State Steve Hobbs a list of "approximately 405" registered voters whom federal agencies believe "are or were noncitizens," while saying in the same letter that they "may have subsequently naturalized." The complaint says the letter directed Hobbs to instruct election officials "to not verify the signature and/or tabulate the ballot" of any listed voter until their "citizenship can be determined," and gave him 48 hours to comply (Ex. A). The complaint also calls the list "roughly 400," and press reports said about 400. One press report said 24 hours rather than 48. We have not seen the letter itself and report both figures.
The complaint quotes Floyd at a press conference the same day: anyone who "assists someone in voting illegally would be also guilty of that crime under the aiding abetting theory." It quotes Serrano, asked about next steps: "We want to make sure these ballots aren't counted, and if ultimately we have to send 39 letters to 39 auditors over the next couple of days, we can do that."
Hobbs answered on Wednesday, Oct. 28. As the complaint quotes and describes his reply, he found the list included many U.S. citizens and "a significant number of people" not registered or on inactive status, and wrote that "it would likely be unlawful to decline to count ballots simply because a person's name appears on the unverified list." On Thursday, Oct. 29, Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter sent Hobbs a letter titled "Obligations Under 52 U.S.C. § 20701," on the duty to preserve election records, warning that willful noncompliance is a crime (Ex. C).
The claims. Seven counts:
- action beyond lawful authority under the Elections Clause;
- separation of powers;
- commandeering of state officials, under the Tenth Amendment;
- voter intimidation under section 11(b) of the Voting Rights Act, 52 U.S.C. 10307(b);
- two Administrative Procedure Act counts (contrary to law; arbitrary and capricious);
- the right to vote.
What they ask for. Declarations; preliminary and permanent injunctions barring the defendants from directing or pressuring Washington officials to withhold, segregate, or decline to verify or count ballots based on a federal list, or threatening them with prosecution for counting under state law; vacatur and a stay of the Oct. 26 demand; written notice to the Secretary and every county auditor that the demand is withdrawn or blocked; and notice to the court within 24 hours of any further list before certification.
Where it sits. The complaint relies on the Ninth Circuit's Oct. 30 order in United States v. California, No. 26-7231, which denied the government's motion for an injunction that would have made California set aside listed voters' mail ballots; Washington is in the same circuit (our post on that order). A separate case, SEIU v. DOJ (N.D. Cal.), produced a temporary restraining order on Oct. 30, running to Nov. 16, that bars the Justice Department and DHS from demanding that officials hold listed voters' ballots and orders the department to tell every government it wrote to that those demands are enjoined (our post on that order). Press reports say the government appealed it on Oct. 31; we have not confirmed that on the docket. How that order and this case interact is not established.
Not established. The assigned judge; whether a restraining order will be sought; any government response. The docket shows nine entries through Sunday, Nov. 1: the complaint, disclosure statements, summonses and attorney appearances. It shows no motion for a restraining order, no judge's name and nothing from the government. That mirror can lag the court's own system. Also not established: whether any Washington county is holding ballots, and whether more lists were sent. We have not seen the Oct. 26 letter, Hobbs's reply, the McCotter letter or the press-conference transcript themselves; each is quoted here through the complaint.
Why we are following it. The California dispute has reached a second state, this time through letters to election officials rather than a lawsuit by the United States.
Primary source: Complaint, OneAmerica Votes v. Trump, No. 2:26-cv-04223 (W.D. Wash. filed Oct. 30, 2026), Dkt. 1, as posted by Democracy Docket, which is affiliated with the plaintiffs' counsel; exhibits are quoted through the complaint. Docket: No. 2:26-cv-04223 on CourtListener.
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