News : Iowa officials sue federal government over voter citizenship information

By Robin Opsahl

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and Attorney General Brenna Bird filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday accusing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of unlawfully withholding information about individuals registered to vote who were identified by the state as potential noncitizens.

Two weeks before the 2024 general election, Pate issued guidance to county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 registered voters identified by the office as potential noncitizens. These people had reported to the Iowa Department of Transportation or another government entity that they were not U.S. citizens in the past 12 years and later registered to vote. While a majority were likely naturalized citizens, who are legally able to vote, at least some were not citizens - making their registration and participation in Iowa elections illegal.

The move was challenged in court by the ACLU, on behalf of naturalized citizens and the League of United Latin American Citizens, on the basis that the guidance prevented U.S. citizens from casting regular ballots. However, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher ruled that the Secretary of State's office guidance could stand in a decision days before the election, as it was confirmed there were at least some individuals on the list who were not U.S. citizens.

Pate argued the directive was necessary because the federal USCIS office was unwilling to share the citizenship status of the people identified as potential noncitizens.

The Secretary of State's office was denied access to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services' Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) database to confirm the individuals' citizenship, he said. Pate also told reporters that a USCIS employee in Des Moines contacted the Secretary of State's office check the citizenship status of the listed people, but that the federal office would not release this information.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that the federal government "(refused) to comply with law and answer valid requests for information from the Secretary of State of Iowa for the citizenship status of those people on the voter rolls for whom the State cannot verify their citizenship status using existing state resources." It points to U.S. Code that requires the federal government to respond to inquiries by federal, state and local government agencies to verify the citizenship status of individuals within their jurisdictions.

In a news release on the lawsuit, Pate said his office works to uphold a balance between "participation and integrity," in enforcing election law, and that access to the SAVE database and the federal government's information on potential noncitizens appearing on Iowa voter rolls is needed to ensure both these components are being met.

"We have identified solutions that will allow us to verify voter eligibility at registration - not at the time of voting," Pate said in a statement. "The combination of access to the SAVE list, citizenship verification already completed by USCIS, and the ability to verify using social security numbers will not only make processes more efficient but will also provide another important tool in our toolbox to safeguard our elections process."

The lawsuit states Iowa plans to "continue to negotiate in good faith to access the SAVE program." Pate also told reporters Monday that he is looking potential options to address noncitizen voting and access to federal citizenship information that could be passed through the Iowa Legislature in 2025.

The ACLU issued a statement Tuesday criticizing Iowa's lawsuit as a "waste of time and money."

"The federal government already offers access to some of this citizenship data to all states, as long as they simply agree not to misuse the data," the ACLU said in a statement. "The Iowa Secretary of State is suing instead of agreeing to follow the federal government's own rules for using the data. All of this is especially concerning because the Secretary has a history of misusing data in a way that denies Iowans' voting rights. Just this past election, in Iowa hundreds and perhaps thousands of naturalized citizens were improperly targeted and challenged at the polls, including many who were not allowed to vote a regular ballot, because the Secretary improperly used stale Department of Motor Vehicle data to call their citizenship into question - although he partially backed down after we took him to court."

However, Bird said the lawsuit was needed because the federal government was aware of the noncitizens currently on Iowa voter rolls but "has repeatedly refused to tell us who they are." Federal officials had identified about 250 names on Iowa's voter registry who appeared to be noncitizens, but did not release the names of the individuals to the state.

"The law is clear: voters must be American citizens," Bird said in a statement. "Together, with the Secretary of State, we will fight to maintain safe and secure elections that Iowans can count on."