The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed a legal challenge in federal court late Wednesday on behalf of four individuals flagged by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate as registered voters who might not be citizens.
Pate’s office said last week that it provided county auditors with a list of 2,022 people who told the state’s Department of Transportation that they are not citizens but subsequently registered to vote or voted. Since those individuals may have become naturalized citizens in the lapsed time, Pate’s office told county elections officials to challenge their ballots and have them cast a provisional ballot instead.
They would have seven days — one more than usual because of a federal holiday — to provide proof of their citizenship status so that their ballot is counted.
It is illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections.
Before the lawsuit was filed, Pate told reporters at a news conference Wednesday that the DOT list is the “only list that we have available to us” without access to federal immigration records.
“We’re balancing this process. We want everyone to be able to vote. That’s why none of them have been taken off the voter rolls,” he said. But “we do owe an obligation to make sure that they are citizens now.”
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement Wednesday, before the ACLU's lawsuit, that the U.S. Department of Justice “called the State in an attempt to pressure Iowa into letting noncitizens vote.”
“Every legal vote must count and not be canceled by an illegal vote,” she said. "In Iowa, we will defend our election integrity laws and protect the vote.”
