Iowa to check citizenship status of more than 1,000 voters

Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz says his office will use a federal database to try to determine whether more than 1,000 registered voters should be disqualified for not being U.S. citizens.

Facing criticism from Democrats and some Republicans, Schultz issued a statement Thursday that tried to explain recently issued rules outlining a process to remove foreign nationals from Iowa's registration list. Some critics accused him of a plot to disenfranchise Latino voters ahead of the presidential election, and two civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking to block the rules.

Schultz, a Republican, denied those claims. He emphasized that no one has been removed from Iowa's voter registration list and the rules will give those affected a chance to prove their citizenship before they're removed.

His office compared the state's voter registration database of 2.1 million names against a database of non-citizens who have driver's licenses from the Iowa Department of Transportation, and it came up with more than 1,000 potential matches, spokesman Chad Olsen said. These are typically people who are in the country legally on green cards but do not have voting rights.

Schultz's office has been told it will get access to a federal database of information about recent naturalized citizens, who can vote, Olsen said. After that effort, he said, people who are believed to be ineligible will be notified. Failing to respond within 14 days would initiate a process to remove them from the rolls, he said.

Olsen said it was doubtful the process could be completed before the Nov. 6 election because it's not clear when the state will get access to the database, and federal law says such voters cannot be removed within 70 days beforehand.

But Ben Stone, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said Schultz failed to address whether his office had the power in the first place to enact the rules without any input or public notice. The lawsuit filed by ACLU and the League of United Latin American Citizens claims Schultz acted illegally, and that the rules are too vague and could disenfranchise voters because of data errors.

He said the timing of the rules so close to the general election “is one of the primary reasons for great concern.”

“If a mistake is made, you can't fix it,” he said.

Olsen said the rules were part of an application for access to the federal database, and they were issued on an emergency basis to speed up the process. Several members of the Legislature's administrative rules review committee questioned that reason.

“We know in some cases there needs to be emergency rules, but it's certainly not in the voting laws of this state,” said Sen. Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg. “This is just a last-ditch effort to control voting and to hold down the number of votes.”

Vice Chairwoman Rep. Dawn Pettengill, R-Mount Auburn, said she has long insisted that agencies' rules go through the regular process - allowing lawmakers and the public to review, comment and seek changes - though she believed Schultz was simply trying to remove ineligible voters.

“I'm proud of Secretary Schultz for standing up for that,” she said. “I don't like emergency rules, though ... I state that at every single meeting.”