DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Iowa officials on Tuesday sued the Biden administration for access to information on the citizenship status of more than 2,000 registered voters they had questioned in the weeks leading up to the 2024 election.
The complaint details a back and forth with the federal government after state election officials checked voter rolls against a list of people who identified themselves as noncitizens with the state's Department of Transportation. The vast majority of the 2,176 names had subsequently registered to vote or voted, meaning that some of those individuals could have become naturalized citizens in the lapsed time.
Secretary of State Paul Pate's office requested information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on the citizenship status of those individuals but did not get it, the complaint alleges. The Associated Press left email messages with DHS on Tuesday seeking comment on the lawsuit.
"Failure meant that the State had to rely on the best -- imperfect -- data it had available to ensure that no Iowan's vote was canceled by an illegal, noncitizen vote," a joint statement from Pate and Attorney General Brenna Bird said.
Two weeks before Election Day, when early voting was 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 Oct. 30 on behalf of four voters who are naturalized citizens but were named on the list, calling into question the accuracy of DOT's information and alleging Pate infringed upon their right to vote. Their request for a stop to ballot challenges was denied by a federal judge on Nov. 3.
It is illegal for non-U.S. citizens to vote in federal elections, but there is no evidence that it is occurring in significant numbers, though 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 DOT, so Pate's office sent those names to law enforcement and Bird's office for investigation and potential prosecution. But critics have said even those individuals might be wrongly identified as noncitizens since DOT data has proven unreliable.
Pate's office has not released any additional information on how many individuals turned out to vote whose ballots were challenged or whose citizenship status was ultimately confirmed. The Des Moines Register found at least 500 identified individuals proved their citizenship status and had their votes counted based on preliminary information collected from 97 out of 99 counties.
Another 74 ballots were rejected according to Register data mostly because those individuals did not return to prove their citizenship status.
The majority of people on Pate’s list did not vote in this election according to county auditors’ data reported by Register.
"We're balancing this process," he said. "We want everyone able to vote; that's why none taken off voter rolls." But "we do owe obligation make sure they are citizens now."