Judicial Watch Probes Election Integrity Across the Nation

Judicial Watch closely monitored the mid-term elections. It’s a job we’ve been doing for more than thirty years, across Democrat and Republican administrations, as a national leader in investigating government corruption and election integrity. JW President Tom Fitton noted recently that we “keep doing what we’re doing, no matter who wins an election.” That includes probes of major election integrity scandals unfolding in real time in Alaska, Minnesota, and California.

In Alaska, the Senate race between Republican incumbent Dan S. Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola has been engulfed in controversy. In late October, the New York Times revealed that Democratic political operatives and Peltola aides were deeply involved in a scheme to drain votes from the incumbent Republican by placing another Dan Sullivan—Dan J. Sullivan—on the ranked choice ballot.

The Times reported that “not only did Ms. Peltola’s team work with people trying to recruit [Dan J. Sullivan] to run for Senate, but the effort was much broader. The group worked to coax other would-be spoilers into the race, to dilute the incumbent’s support and help catapult the Democrat to victory…. It also involved the Peltola campaign’s lawyers, as well as senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which directs the party’s campaign strategy in Senate races across the country. From Washington to Anchorage, those advisers participated in regular conversations about the effort.”

As of this writing, a victor has not been named in the Alaska Senate race. JW’s Tom Fitton called it “a scandal of epic proportions,” requiring “serious criminal investigations.” Probes have been launched by the Department of Justice, the House Oversight Committee, and the Alaska Department of Public Safety.

In Minnesota, a different kind of scandal is unfolding. On October 12, federal agents executed a search warrant at the Washington home of Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat representing a Minneapolis district. Federal authorities are investigating immigration fraud and have issued more than a dozen grand jury subpoenas , the AP reported. Among the items seized were a cellphone, notebooks, computers, and a passport. Omar dismissed the search as an “attempt to target political enemies.”

The search of Omar’s home is shrouded in secrecy. Why the mystery? In a new court filing, Judicial Watch seeks disclosure of the warrant and related documents, including an inventory of seized assets and supporting affidavits.

Omar has not objected in court to releasing the records and has used news of the search in fundraising appeals. “Ilhan Omar is using this search to raise campaign cash, yet she hasn’t asked the courts to keep the records secret,” said JW’s Fitton. “Why is the government fighting to hide information about her alleged crimes?”

Judicial Watch has been investigating fraud allegations surrounding Omar for years. In 2019, we filed a House Ethics Committee complaint calling for a full investigation into allegations of potential involving perjury, immigration fraud, marriage fraud, state and federal tax fraud, and federal student loan fraud.

In California, Judicial Watch continues its historic efforts to compel the states to clean up dirty voter rolls, as mandated by the National Voter Registration Act. To date, JW has forced the removal of more than six million ineligible names from voter rolls nationwide, an election integrity endeavor unmatched in U.S. history.

In May, JW sued California for failing to maintain accurate voter rolls—a requirement of the NVRA. The law requires the removal of most inactive voter registrations after two general elections. The JW lawsuit charges that California failed to remove an astonishing 873,000 inactive voters from their registration rolls who have been inactive for more than two general elections. Sometimes a lot more than two general elections: tens of thousands of the registrations have been inactive for over ten years. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the American Independent Party of California and Don Wagner, an elected member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors.

In July, the Justice Department filed notice that it intended to intervene in the lawsuit on behalf of Wagner and the Independent Party. Citing data from Judicial Watch’s original complaint, the Justice Department said in its Complaint in Intervention that California “does not comply with the NVRA’s requirement that the state conduct a general program of voter registration list maintenance that makes a reasonable effort to remove persons from the voter rolls who have become ineligible.”

“Judicial Watch’s federal lawsuit confirms California has a dirty voting rolls crisis,” says JW’s Fitton. “Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections. California and its counties must take immediate steps to clean the over 870,000 dirty names on the voting lists.”

The national numbers on dirty voter rolls are staggering. A sampling from Judicial Watch: California earlier settled a JW lawsuit against Los Angeles County resulting in the removal of more than 1.2 million names from voter rolls. In Oregon, a JW settlement ensured that 800,000 ineligible voter names are slated for review and removal from voter registration lists. Colorado  removed 372,000 ineligible voter names thanks to a Judicial Watch lawsuit and settlement. In Kentucky, state election board officials reported that “roughly 735,000 ineligible voter registrations” have been removed from voter rolls, as part of a 2018 consent decree settling a Judicial Watch lawsuit. The list goes on. For a full accounting, check out JW’s interactive Election Integrity Map.

The midterms are over. At Judicial Watch, the fight for election integrity and against government corruption continues. There’s plenty lot of work to do.

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Micah Morrison is chief investigative reporter for Judicial Watch. Tips: mmorrison@judicialwatch.org

Investigative Bulletin is published by Judicial Watch. Reprints and media inquiries: jfarrell@judicialwatch.org

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