Iowa sues Biden administration for citizenship status of over 2,000 registered voters

DES MOINES, Iowa — Iowa officials on Tuesday sued the Biden administration for access to information about the citizenship status of more than 2,000 registered voters they surveyed in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election.

The complaint describes a back-and-forth with the federal government after election officials checked voter rolls against a list of people who identified themselves as noncitizens with the state Department of Transportation. The vast majority of the 2,176 names had subsequently registered to vote or vote, meaning that some of these individuals could have become naturalized citizens over time.

Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office requested information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about the citizenship status of these individuals but did not receive it, the complaint alleges. The Associated Press left email messages with DHS on Tuesday seeking comment on the lawsuit.

The failure of federal authorities “meant that the state had to rely on the best — imperfect — data at its disposal to ensure that no Iowan vote was canceled by an illegal noncitizen vote,” according to a joint statement from Pate and Attorney General Brenna Bird.

Two weeks before Election Day, with early voting already underway, Pate told county elections officials to challenge those voters’ ballots and have them cast a provisional ballot instead.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa then sued Pate on October 30 on behalf of four voters who are naturalized citizens but were on the rolls, questioning the accuracy of the DOT’s information and alleging that Pate had infringed on their voting rights. Their request for an end to the voting challenges was denied by a federal judge on November 3.

It is illegal for non-US citizens to vote in federal elections, but… there is no evidence that it occurs in significant numbers, although Iowa and some other states say they have identified dozens of such cases.

Some individuals in Iowa had registered to vote or voted before identifying themselves as noncitizens to the DOT, so Pate’s office sent those names to law enforcement authorities and Bird’s office for investigation and possible prosecution. But Pate’s critics have said even these individuals could be wrongly identified as noncitizens, as the DOT data has proven to be unreliable.

Pate’s office did not release additional information on the number of people who voted, whose ballots were challenged or whose citizenship was ultimately confirmed. The Des Moines RegisterPreliminary information collected from 97 of the state’s 99 counties showed that at least 500 of the identified individuals had proven their citizenship and had their votes counted.

Another 74 ballots were rejected, according to the Register, mainly because these individuals did not return to prove their citizenship.

The majority of people on Pate’s list did not vote in the 2024 election, according to Register of County Auditors data.

Concerns that the elections would be undermined by non-citizen votes were a concern political messages this year, however, from newly elected President Donald Trump and other Republicans such votes are rare in American elections.

With no voter removed from Iowa’s rolls, Pate sought to distinguish Iowa from other states such as Virginiawhere more than 1,600 voters were removed from the voter registration list over the past two months in a program enacted by Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin on August 7.

The Justice Department and a coalition of private groups sued Virginia in early October, arguing that the state’s election officials violated federal law. ‘Quiet period’ of ninety days before the elections. The US Supreme Court The conservative majority said Virginia could proceed.

Ahead of the Nov. 5 election, Pate said the DOT information was the “only list we have available” without access to federal immigration data.

“We balance this process. We want everyone to be able to vote. That is why none of them have been removed from the voters’ list,” he said. But “we are obliged to ensure that they are now citizens.”