Over 200 Iowans’ ballots challenged as part of state’s effort to prevent noncitizen voting

DES MOINES — More than 200 Iowans’ ballots were challenged in the state’s most populous counties during last week’s election, the result of an order from Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate in his effort to prevent voting by non-U.S. citizens.

Most of those challenges — according to figures from auditors in the state’s seven counties with populations of 100,000 or more — came from five counties: 94 ballots were challenged in Polk County, 33 in Johnson County, 27 each in Scott and Dallas counties, and 21 in Woodbury County, according to those counties’ elections officials.

A total statewide figure is not yet known, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office said Friday.

Pate on Oct. 22 ordered Iowa’s county auditors to instruct poll workers to challenge the ballots of more than 2,000 Iowans on a list created by his office that included individuals whose U.S. citizenship Pate’s office was unable to confirm. The list was comprised of legal Iowa residents who at some point — in some cases many years ago — told the Iowa Department of Transportation in filling out documents they were not U.S. citizens.

When an individual’s ballot is challenged, he or she must vote via a provisional ballot. For this election, the challenged voter has until Tuesday to, in this case, provide the county auditor with documentation that proves U.S. citizenship.

Pate has said he wanted to ensure that only legal voters participated in the 2024 general election in Iowa, and that compiling the list by using Iowa DOT information was the best method available because a federal immigration agency refused to share citizenship information with the state.

Voting rights advocates expressed concern that the ballot challenges could dissuade some Iowans from voting despite them being legal U.S. citizens. A lawsuit filed by Iowa chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and League of United Latin American Citizens alleged Pate’s directive created unnecessary obstacles for some Iowa voters. But a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit.

An attorney for the state during a federal court hearing last week on that legal challenge said the state hoped the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services would get the citizenship information about those 2,000-plus Iowans to the state by Election Day. That did not happen, an Iowa Secretary of State’s Office spokeswoman said.

“We are extremely frustrated because all of this could have been avoided if the federal government gave us the list of names they have already verified and have available down the street in the Des Moines office,” the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office said in a statement.

The statement said the state is collecting information from the auditors regarding how many ballot challenges were filed in Iowa.

“Auditors were required (Thursday) to post the number of provisional ballots. We will be working with each county to determine the number of voters who cast provisional ballots after the (absentee and special voters’ precinct) boards meet,” the statement said.

Many challenges already resolved

Even among the ballots that were challenged, many already have been cured — meaning the voters provided the required information to county elections officials and their ballots will be counted.

There were 150 Linn County residents on the state list, but just three ballot challenges were filed in the county, according to Linn County Auditor Joel Miller. One of those three has already proved his U.S. citizenship, Miller said.

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Like many county auditors, Miller was able to confirm the citizenship of many individuals on his county’s list before they voted.

Some auditors sent notice to the residents on their county’s list, giving them time to confirm their citizenship before Election Day.

One such example was Johnson County, where 78 voters on the list confirmed their citizenship and thus were able to vote with a regular ballot, a spokeswoman for the Johnson County Auditor’s Office said. In Black Hawk County, 28 residents responded to a letter from the county by providing proof of citizenship before the election, Auditor Grant Veeder said.

Also in Black Hawk County, three individuals whose ballots were challenged when voting on Election Day have all since presented proof of citizenship. Eight more individuals from the state list voted absentee; their ballots have been challenged and they have until Tuesday to provide proof of citizenship to the auditor’s office.

Concern raised over Lee County challenges

An Iowa voter from Lee County said in court documents filed last week that local elections officials gave him conflicting and at times inaccurate information as he tried to vote.

In documents filed in the case brought by the ACLU and LULAC, Zydrune Didvyzyte-Morgan, an immigrant from Lithuania who has lived in Keokuk since 2009 and became a U.S. citizen in 2022, testified that when he voted on Election Day, his name was flagged as being on the state list and that his ballot was challenged.

Didvyzyte-Morgan said in his written testimony that when he presented his U.S. passport as proof of citizenship, he was told he still had to cast a provisional ballot and present his passport at the county auditor’s office.

When he presented his documentation at the auditor’s office, Lee County Auditor Denise Fraise told him that he should have been allowed to vote via a regular ballot, Didvyzyte-Morgan testified.

Didvyzyte-Morgan said he has since been told his vote was counted in the initial election results.

“I spent the day jumping through hoops to ensure that my vote was counted and I was repeatedly given conflicting information,” Didvyzyte-Morgan said in his testimony. “I am still concerned whether my ballot will be correctly counted and for those people that don’t have the time or resources to jump through the hoops to ensure that their vote is counted.”

In the same filing, an attorney from the Iowa Democratic Party testified to having a conversation with a Lee County voter who was incorrectly told that a U.S. passport is not proof of U.S. citizenship. But it is proof, according to federal immigration authorities.

“During my conversation (with a Lee County Auditor’s Office employee), she stated that anyone can obtain a passport and an individual did not need to be a U.S. citizen to obtain a United States passport,” Iowa Democratic Party attorney Shayla McCormally said in her written testimony. “The worker appeared to be responsive to fixing this misperception.”

Sarah Watson of the Quad City Times contributed to this report.

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

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