Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said Friday 277 of the 2,176 individuals identified by his office to have their ballots challenged in the 2024 general election — or not quite 13% — have been confirmed to be noncitizens, News From The States reports. In a news release Friday, Pate said his office gained access to the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database and was able to confirm the citizenship status of the individuals listed by the office as “potential noncitizens.” Pate had directed county auditors to challenge these voters’ ballots ahead of the Nov. 5, 2024 election because they had reported their noncitizen status to the Iowa Department of Transportation within the past 12 years and later registered to vote. Immigrant advocates pointed out that most of those voters had gained citizenship in the intervening years and complained they were going to be unfairly subjected to additional scrutiny in order to exercise their right to vote.
Though the federal government has now shared access to the SAVE database, Pate said the lawsuit and a legislative proposal by his office to contract with state and federal agencies and with private vendors, to verify registered voters’ citizenship status are “crucial next steps in confidently balancing voter participation with election integrity.” “The legislation, Senate File 550, has received committee approval in the Senate but has not yet been debated on the floor. More than 87% of these individuals listed as potential noncitizens were U.S. citizens who were legally able to vote, but Pate said the new data confirms 12.7% were not citizens. Registering to vote and participating in Iowa elections is illegal for people without U.S. citizenship.
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