NATIONAL NEWS

Iowa election officials sued by 4 naturalized citizens who say their right to vote was harmed

Oct 31, 2024, 7:53 AM

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate speaks during a press conference, Oct. 9, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. (N...

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate speaks during a press conference, Oct. 9, 2024, in Omaha, Neb. (Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP, file)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS

(Nikos Frazier/Omaha World-Herald via AP, file)

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Four voters and a Hispanic civil rights group sued Iowa’s top election official after he directed election workers to challenge the ballots of people who may be naturalized citizens, alleging the state infringed upon their rights in its attempt to keep ineligible noncitizens from illegally voting.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa filed a legal challenge in federal court late Wednesday on behalf of four individuals flagged by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate as registered voters who might not be citizens. They are naturalized citizens, according to the complaint.

Pate’s office said last week that it provided county auditors with a list of 2,022 people who told the state’s Department of Transportation that they are not citizens but subsequently registered to vote or voted. Since those individuals may have become naturalized citizens in the lapsed time, Pate’s office told county elections officials to challenge their ballots and have them cast a provisional ballot instead.

They would have seven days — one more than usual because of a federal holiday — to provide proof of their citizenship status so that their ballot is counted.

According to the complaint, one new voter registered last year, a day after he became a U.S. citizen.

“Yet he was placed on the Secretary’s covert list and wrongfully subjected to investigation and an election challenge for following the law and exercising his right to vote,” the complaint says.

The ACLU is also representing the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa.

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 have identified dozens of such cases.

Before the lawsuit was filed, Pate told reporters at a news conference Wednesday that the DOT list is the “only list that we have available to us” without access to federal immigration records.

“We’re balancing this process. We want everyone to be able to vote. That’s why none of them have been taken off the voter rolls,” he said. But “we do owe an obligation to make sure that they are citizens now.”

With early voting well underway and just days to go before the Nov. 5 election, the lawsuit asks for the list to be rescinded and voters on it to not be challenged on this basis. It alleges Iowa’s election officials are burdening the right to vote and discriminating against naturalized citizens, treating these voters differently from others in violation of their constitutional right to equal protection.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said in a statement Wednesday, before the ACLU’s lawsuit, that the U.S. Department of Justice “called the State in an attempt to pressure Iowa into letting noncitizens vote.”

“Every legal vote must count and not be canceled by an illegal vote,” she said. “In Iowa, we will defend our election integrity laws and protect the vote.”

In an email, a spokesperson for the Justice Department declined to comment.

The Associated Press left email messages with Pate and Bird on Thursday seeking comment on the ACLU’s lawsuit.

Pate tried to differentiate Iowa from other states, like Virginia, where more than 1,600 voters were purged from the voter registration list in the past two months in a program enacted through an Aug. 7 executive order from Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

The Justice Department and a coalition of private groups sued Virginia earlier in October, arguing that state election officials violated federal law’s 90-day “quiet period” ahead of elections.

The National Voter Registration Act requires that quiet period so that legitimate voters are not removed from the rolls by bureaucratic errors or last-minute mistakes that cannot be quickly corrected.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority said Wednesday that Virginia could continue, overruling a federal judge that said the state’s purge was illegal. A federal appeals court had previously allowed the judge’s order to remain in effect.

In a similar lawsuit in Alabama, a federal judge this month ordered the state to restore eligibility for more than 3,200 voters who had been deemed ineligible noncitizens. Testimony from state officials in that case showed that roughly 2,000 of the 3,251 voters who were made inactive were actually legally registered citizens.

National News

Associated Press

San Francisco’s first Black female mayor concedes to Levi Strauss heir

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco’s first Black female mayor, London Breed, conceded the race for mayor to Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie on Thursday, pledging a smooth transition as he takes over the job. Breed, who was raised by her grandmother in public housing, could not overcome deep voter discontent and lost to anti-poverty […]

1 minute ago

Associated Press

AP Race Call: Democrat Julia Brownley wins reelection to U.S. House in California’s 26th Congressional District

Democratic Rep. Julia Brownley won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing California on Thursday. Brownley, who previously served in the state Assembly for six years, was first elected to the House in 2012. Before her political career, she worked in marketing and sales. Brownley’s district comprises a small part of Los Angeles County and […]

5 minutes ago

Associated Press

Officials outline child protective services changes after conviction of NYPD officer in son’s death

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (AP) — Officials in the New York City suburbs said Thursday they’re making changes to child protective services in response to the 2020 death of an 8-year-old boy whose police officer father forced him to sleep overnight on the concrete floor of a freezing garage. Suffolk County Social Services Commissioner John Imhof, who […]

28 minutes ago

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump brings Susie Wiles to the podium at a...

Associated Press

Who is Susie Wiles, Donald Trump’s new White House chief of staff?

WASHINGTON (AP) — With her selection as President-elect Donald Trump ‘s incoming White House chief of staff, veteran Florida political strategist Susie Wiles moves from a largely behind-the-scenes role of campaign co-chair to the high-profile position of the president’s closest adviser and counsel. She’s been in political circles for years. But who is Wiles, who […]

52 minutes ago

FILE - Bryan Kohberger listens to arguments during a hearing, Oct. 26, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (Kai...

Associated Press

Defense asks judge to ban the death penalty for man charged in stabbing deaths of 4 Idaho students

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Attorneys for a man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students asked a judge to take the death penalty off the table Thursday, arguing that international, federal and state law all make it inappropriate for the case. Bryan Kohberger is accused of the Nov. 13, 2022, killings […]

1 hour ago

FILE - Stephen Parlato of Boulder, Colo., holds a sign that reads "Hands Off Roe!!!" as abortion ri...

Associated Press

Abortion-rights groups see mixed success in races for state supreme court seats

A costly campaign by abortion-rights advocates for state supreme court seats yielded mixed results in Tuesday’s election, with Republicans expanding their majority on Ohio’s court while candidates backed by progressive groups won in Montana and Michigan. One of the most expensive and closely watched supreme court races in North Carolina, where a Democratic justice campaigned […]

2 hours ago

Iowa election officials sued by 4 naturalized citizens who say their right to vote was harmed