Elections officials compared the state’s 2.3 million registered voters to a list of people who self-reported as noncitizens to the Iowa Department of Transportation, according to Ashley Hunt Esquivel, spokesperson for Secretary of State Paul Pate.
Pate released a statement Tuesday detailing that his office found 87 people who identified themselves to the DOT as noncitizens but previously voted. An additional 67 people said they are not citizens but previously registered to vote.
“For those groups, we have pretty clear evidence … that they voted or registered to vote when they are not citizens, which is, of course, a Class D felony,” Hunt Esquivel said.
Additionally, 2,022 people had told the DOT that they are not citizens but subsequently registered to vote or voted. It’s possible that they became naturalized citizens in the lapsed time, so “we need clarification on what their citizenship status was when they registered or voted,” she said.
Pate, a Republican, stressed the importance of election integrity in the announcement, which came two weeks before Election Day.
