A federal judge has ruled that poll workers in Iowa can continue to challenge the ballots of more than 2,000 Iowans listed on a flawed list of possible non-residents, denying a request to order counties to allow the named individuals to vote normally.
Republican Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate on Oct. 22 directed county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 registered voters who at some point in the past told the Iowa Department of Transportation they were not American citizens.
A group of naturalized citizens and the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa filed a lawsuit alleging Pate’s instruction to county auditors improperly forced naturalized citizens — who are eligible to vote — to jump through additional hoops to cast their ballots, simply because they had received their vote. a driver’s license before becoming citizens.
U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher wrote in a ruling on Sunday that both sides appear to agree that some of the people on the list are not U.S. citizens.
“This portion appears to be relatively small – no more than 12% – yet the injunctive relief sought by plaintiffs would effectively compel local election officials to allow those individuals to vote,” Locher wrote. “Whatever plaintiffs’ concerns about the nature and timing of Secretary Pate’s letter, it would not be appropriate for the court to respond by granting a preliminary injunction that effectively forces local election officials to allow ineligible voters to vote .”
Locher wrote that recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions in cases involving voter rolls and provisional ballots in other states “advise the Court to act with great caution before granting last-minute injunctive relief over how officials in Iowa are handling election issues .”
In a statement, Pate called the decision “a victory for Iowa’s election integrity.”
“American elections are for American citizens, and ensuring that only eligible voters participate in the election process in Iowa is essential to protecting the integrity of the vote,” he said. “The role of the Iowa Secretary of State requires balance – ensuring that every eligible voter can cast their ballot while ensuring that only eligible voters participate in Iowa elections. Both are critical components to election integrity in Iowa.”
Several county auditors have identified at least some of the people on Pate’s list as naturalized citizens.
Johnson County officials said Thursday evening that they had confirmed that 63 of the 295 people Pate assigned to them are citizens. One person was referred to police for additional clarification on whether he or she was eligible to vote, and others had not responded to letters alerting them to the situation.
While Pate initially instructed county auditors to challenge the ballots of everyone on the list, he later said that if a voter can prove his citizenship at the ballot box or if the county auditor has verified that he is a citizen, he or she should be able to cast a normal vote. .
“The auditor has the leeway,” he said. “If they already know the answer, there’s no point in challenging.”
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
This article originally appeared on the Des Moines Register: Judge: Iowa Can Challenge Ballots of Non-Citizen Voters
