A Justice Department announcement accusing a Greek national of voting in 2022 contains an error that is easy to spot: the notice says the person cast ballots for president and vice president that year, but 2022 was not a presidential or vice presidential election year. The mistake was flagged by journalist Scott MacFarlane in his "Day Ahead" newsletter on Wednesday.
MacFarlane noted that the department has been issuing a series of releases about individual noncitizens accused of voting in 2022. Each one shows a blurred image of the suspect wearing an agent's windbreaker. The Greek national entry alleges the person voted for President, Vice President, U.S. senator and member of the House of Representatives, a combination that does not match the 2022 ballot, which featured congressional and some state races rather than the presidency. MacFarlane also observed that the handful of cases could not sway a federal election and have not been proven in court.
The newsletter placed the case within a wider pattern of election-related actions by the department. MacFarlane reported that the Justice Department is pressing a lawsuit to block certification of Alaska's Senate race because two candidates have similar names on the ballot. The department is also seeking to set aside tens of thousands of California ballots over alleged noncitizen voting, a claim that local officials have dismissed as "hogwash." An appeals court denied the department's request on Monday.
Attorney General Todd Blanche had told reporters only hours before the Alaska suit was filed that the department would not intervene against a state certifying its own election unless there was a "doomsday scenario." MacFarlane further reported that the department plans to deploy 1,000 election monitors, with deployments reportedly concentrated in Democratic-leaning areas, including Georgia's Fulton and DeKalb counties and Indiana's Marion and Lake counties.
The election-year details come as the midterm campaign enters its final stretch. Fox News Power Rankings rate the battle for Senate control a toss-up, with Republicans currently holding a 53-47 majority and needing to keep 50 seats to retain control because Vice President JD Vance would break ties. Both sides are three seats short of a majority under the forecast, and the outcome is expected to turn on competitive races in states that President Donald Trump carried in 2024. Ohio has shifted to Lean Democrat, while South Carolina has moved to Lean Republican and Mississippi to Likely Republican. Toss-up races include Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Texas and Michigan.