The state of Iowa has initiated legal action against the Biden administration, alleging a refusal to disclose citizenship information for over 2,000 registered voters whose status was questioned leading up to the 2024 election. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Secretary of State Paul Pate jointly filed the lawsuit, contending that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) failed to provide a list of non-citizens registered to vote in the state. This lack of cooperation, according to Pate and Bird, forced Iowa to rely on less reliable data from the state's Department of Transportation to ensure the integrity of the election.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, pictured above, and Attorney General Brenna Bird sued the Biden administration on Tuesday for access to information on the citizenship status of more than 2,000 registered voters. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), also named in the lawsuit along with DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, stated that they do not comment on ongoing litigation but confirmed that USCIS has been and will continue communicating with Iowa directly. The lawsuit explains that Iowa officials compared voter registrations against a list of individuals who self-identified as non-citizens to the Department of Transportation. A significant number of those individuals were subsequently found on voter rolls, though it's possible some may have become naturalized citizens since providing that information. Prior to the election, Pate instructed county officials to challenge ballots from individuals on the list and have them cast provisional ballots instead. While voting rights advocates challenged this directive in court, a judge ultimately ruled in favor of Pate's provisional ballot procedure.
Pate and Bird said the government's refusal to hand over the information forced the state to rely on "imperfect" data from its Department of Transportation. (iStock)
Preliminary reports from nearly all of Iowa's counties indicate that at least 500 individuals on the list verified their citizenship and had their votes counted. An additional 74 ballots were rejected, primarily due to individuals not returning to confirm their citizenship. Data suggests that the majority of those on Pate's list did not participate in the 2024 election.
