Iowa’s top elections official fields questions about order to require provisional ballots for residents with unclear citizenship

JOHNSTON — At a news conference called to highlight election security efforts in the state, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate on Wednesday responded to questions about his recent order for local elections officials to challenge the ballots of Iowans on a state list of more than 2,000 individuals whose citizenship his office is unclear on.

Also Wednesday, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement that the federal justice department contacted an unnamed Iowa state government official about Pate’s order.

Pate, the state’s top elections official, last week ordered county auditors, who conduct election operations, to instruct poll workers to challenge the ballots of any Iowan who attempts to vote if their name appears on a list provided by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.

The list of 2,022 Iowans, according to Pate’s office, is comprised of individuals who at one point indicated on Iowa Department of Transportation documents that they were legal residents but not U.S. citizens who then later attempted to register to vote or voted in an election. What is unknown, Pate said, is whether these individuals became citizens before registering or voting.

According to Pate’s order, those individuals are to cast a provisional ballot. They would then have until the following Monday to provide documentation proving their citizenship. If they provide proof of citizenship at their polling place, they can cast a normal ballot, Pate said.

Registering to vote or voting in Iowa while not having full U.S. citizenship are Class D felonies, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of $750 to $7,500.

“We’ve taken every effort available to us to ensure that eligible voters are able to participate in the election process and cast their ballot this November. We take this role of election integrity very seriously,” Pate said during Wednesday’s news conference, which was held at the Iowa Department of Homeland Security’s Emergency Operation Center at Iowa National Guard Joint Forces Headquarters.

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Iowa AG: Federal government contacted state about list

The U.S. Department of Justice apparently has showed interest in Pate’s directive, according to Bird.

Bird’s statement did not specify who in Iowa state government the federal justice department contacted. When asked for more specifics, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said the justice department contacted “the State” on Tuesday but declined to say who in state government the justice department contacted or details about the conversation.

Both Bird and her office’s spokeswoman, without providing evidence, alleged the federal justice department is attempting to “pressure Iowa into letting noncitizens illegally vote.” It is against federal law for noncitizens to vote in federal elections.

The Gazette on Tuesday asked the U.S. Department of Justice whether it had contacted any Iowa state officials. The department declined to comment.

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The U.S. Department of Justice recently challenged a move by Virginia elections leaders to remove 1,600 alleged noncitizens from that state’s voter registration list. The state action was upheld Wednesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Pate’s order does not remove any names from Iowa’s voter registration list.

Pate fielded a number of questions about his directive during Wednesday’s news conference, including why he ordered the challenge of these residents’ citizenship status so close to the election.

Pate described the process of requesting citizenship information from the federal government and being denied, then requesting information from Iowa DOT and cross-checking that with voter registration and voting history in his office.

However, Pate did not explain why he did not start that process earlier in the election cycle.

On Sept. 20, roughly a month before issuing his directive to county auditors, Pate was asked on Iowa PBS’ “Iowa Press” about the potential for noncitizens voting in U.S. elections.

“I don’t believe in Iowa we have any of those types of massive voter fraud. I think the bad boys and girls, those really serious illegals are not looking to be recognized for anything. They're here just kind of to stay under the radar. So I don’t think we see a lot of it at this time in Iowa,” Pate said on “Iowa Press.”

During Wednesday’s news conference, Pate said his office has been watching how other states address potential noncitizen voting and what legal resources his office can use.

“The reason we sent it the counties now is because we feel the public expects us to address the issue,” Pate said Wednesday. “Because we’ve had so much pressure put on the elections process across the country about not only noncitizens, but anything that’s not got full transparency in an election. And this is the closest we could come to providing that transparency at this time.”

Linn County officials checked individuals’ citizenship status

Linn County Auditor Joel Miller said the state list included 150 names in Linn County. Miller, speaking to The Gazette on Wednesday, said 28 of those individuals have voted or requested an absentee ballot, and all have been determined to be U.S. citizens by local and federal law enforcement.

“And I expect that number will grow,” Miller said. “We have state and federal laws on the books that say don’t intimidate voters or interfere with their right to vote, and we have a Secretary of State that has provided a flawed, faulty list and is telling us to challenge voters. It seems to me to have created a conundrum in which I really can’t win. I’m wrong no matter which way I go here.”

Miller said Pate should have given his list to state investigators or county sheriffs to verify with federal immigration officers the citizenship status of the suspected noncitizen voters, noting the list goes back years.

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“There’s no reason he couldn’t over a period of time have vetted these people prior to us getting this close to an election,” Miller said. “I vetted 28 people in less than a week. He hasn’t vetted one.”

Asked Wednesday how the Linn County Auditor has been able to confirm the citizenship of names on the state list that Pate’s office couldn’t, Pate again referred to what he said was the federal government’s unwillingness to share federal citizenship data.

“We are forced to have to work with the information we have available because the federal government has tied my hands,” Pate said. “So the best measure we could design and come up with was giving the 2,000 names, giving (elections workers) some guidance, explaining to people this does not take them off the voter rolls. These are people that, based on the information we have available to us, we have questions (and) we need to get them answered.”

Miller told The Gazette he forwarded names to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office, which then sent them to federal immigration officers. The federal officers then informed the county of the individuals' citizenship. Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner confirmed that process to The Gazette.

The Gazette’s Tom Barton contributed to this report.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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