Area Takes Key Role in Non-Citizen Voting Issue

DECORAH - A political science professor at Luther College is among plaintiffs in a lawsuit naming the Iowa Secretary of State and five county auditors including Winneshiek County as defendants over a move to challenge potential non-citizen voting.

Meanwhile, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is being backed by both U.S. Senators for Iowa protesting a Biden Department of Justice move to block state officials from releasing information that would clear up the matter.

Pate had announced recently the discovery that over 2,000 individuals who were potentially non-citizens - and therefore not eligible to vote - were registered to vote in this election with nearly 100 having already cast ballots.

Then Thursday, Pate issued an update.

“Last week, we were pleased that the Des Moines Field Office of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) told us that they would review all 2,176 names that were provided to county auditors for precinct election officials to challenge,” said Pate. “The Des Moines Field Office has since informed us that they had completed a review of every name. Now, the office in Washington, D.C. is refusing to let the Des Moines office share those results with us. This information would be critical to Iowa’s election officials in this process and ensure naturalized citizens can cast their ballots as normal.”

Both Sen. Charles Grassley and Sen. Joni Ernst have issued statements protesting that blockage of sharing information already gathered and available.

““There is no excuse for withholding this information from the Secretary of State’s office when non-citizens are ineligible to vote in federal elections in accordance with longstanding federal law,” a joint statement from both Ernst and Grassley said. “Time is of the essence, as voting in Iowa has been underway since October 16 and Iowa election law requires absentee ballots be separated from their carrier envelopes on Monday, November 4th. If that doesn’t happen, you will be playing into the very serious concerns of Iowans that the Biden-Harris administration is not following federal law and not taking reasonable measures to ensure only citizens are voting in our federal elections.”

Meanwhile, Orçun Selçuk, a professor at Luther College, has joined a lawsuit by the ACLU as a plaintiff after Selçuk said he had received notice from the Winneshiek County Auditor asking Selçuk to provide some proof of citizenship.

Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines is joined by auditors in Johnson, Scott, Polk and Pottawattamie counties in being named in the lawsuit along with the Iowa Secretary of State.

According to Steines, counties were notified Oct. 22 about the potential non-citizen voting and given instructions.

“Specific directions were given requiring County Auditors and their Election Staff to Challenge the ballots of voters on this list,” said Steines.  “This challenge process requires those individuals to provide proof of their citizenship before their ballots could be counted.  This includes ballots cast Absentee or on Election Day, with the deadline to provide the required proof as November 12th at Noon.”

Steines received a list with nine names.

“At this time 3 of those individuals have cast Absentee ballots,” said Steines.  “Those 3 individuals were sent the required Challenge Notice as prescribed by the Secretary of State.”

The auditor said Friday morning Iowa law requires him to follow the Secretary of State. 

“Acknowledging the need for election integrity it is important that only US Citizens are allowed to vote,” said Stienes.

However, the county auditor voiced concern about the process being followed here.

“I disagree with the process and procedures currently directed by the Secretary of State, specifically on the timing and trying to put this in place too close to the election,” said Steines.