Iowa’s elections chief revealed on Tuesday that his office has identified 87 individuals who self-reported they are noncitizens after already casting ballots in elections.
“It is absolutely critical that eligible citizens are able to vote and we are not disenfranchising any eligible voters,” Secretary of State Paul Pate said in a statement.
According to an office press release, the 87 foreign nationals were discovered as part of a regular audit of the state’s voter rolls. The analysis also uncovered 67 self-reported noncitizens who registered to vote, but did not cast ballots in elections. The names of these individuals are being turned over “to the Iowa Attorney General and the Iowa Department of Public Safety for potential prosecution,” according to Pate.
The audit additionally found 2,022 people “who have self-reported they are not citizens and voted or registered to vote after self-reporting.” Pate Communications Director Ashley Hunt Esquivel reportedly said, as described by the left-wing Iowa Capital Dispatch, “there may be individuals in this category who have been naturalized as U.S. citizens since reporting their status to the Iowa [Department of Transportation], and legally eligible to vote.”
Pate indicated in the release that his office has provided instructions to county auditors to ensure only authorized U.S. citizens have their votes tabulated in the 2024 election. County auditors are to direct their poll workers to “challenge the ballots” cast by these individuals should they vote in the November contest. According to the secretary, these voters, whose eligibility remains in question, will
