A lawful permanent resident arrested as part of a federal voter fraud crackdown in California has spoken out to deny the allegations against him, while a high-stakes legal dispute between the U.S. Department of Justice and state election officials continues to escalate.
Omar Muñoz, a 72-year-old native of Belize, is among 28 individuals charged across California in a federal investigation named “Operation Protect the Vote.” Federal prosecutors accuse the defendants of illegally registering to vote or committing other election-related offenses, with some accused of casting ballots in federal elections. Charging documents allege that Muñoz registered to vote in Los Angeles County in 2019 and subsequently voted in four elections.
When asked whether he remembered registering to vote, Muñoz denied doing so. When questioned about whether he had ever cast a ballot, he again answered in the negative. Describing his reaction to being taken into custody, Muñoz remarked that he looked around and stated he was not a killer. He also suggested that someone may have misused his identity, pointing to a past incident involving his name and Social Security number at a chocolate factory to illustrate how personal information can be compromised. When asked if someone could have voted using his name, Muñoz replied that it was possible and expressed a feeling of being used as a political prop.
Visits by reporters to four other residences connected to the federal operation yielded further responses. At one home, an individual who answered the door stated that the person accused in the case was not present and claimed she had never registered to vote or was unaware of any registration activity.
The arrests coincide with an escalating lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against California regarding access to voter registration records ahead of midterm elections. Federal authorities assert that more than 20,000 individuals listed on California voter rolls may be noncitizens, and the Justice Department has sought to have ballots associated with those individuals set aside while citizenship statuses are verified.
California officials have strongly challenged the federal government’s claims and resisted the effort, expressing concerns over the accuracy of the federal lists and the potential for eligible voters to be disenfranchised. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli defended the federal investigation, pointing to excerpts from a court filing that he characterized as a massive concession. Essayli highlighted a statement from Los Angeles County indicating that its registrar is neither equipped nor authorized to verify voter citizenship beyond what individuals attest to when registering.
However, other excerpts from the same court filing raised questions regarding the precision of the federal target list. A county review of a sample of 200 records from the federal list revealed that nearly 40% involved individuals who indicated they were born in the United States.
Federal prosecutors maintain that the charges underscore the necessity for rigorous scrutiny of California’s voter registration infrastructure. Conversely, state authorities argue that the 28 charged individuals constitute an infinitesimal fraction of the state’s approximately 23 million registered voters. California Attorney General Rob Bonta has maintained that the cases do not substantiate claims of widespread voter fraud across the state.
