Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said he’s found 87 people out of more than 2 million registered voters who allegedly voted in past elections without being citizens.
Pate’s team also found 67 people who illegally registered to vote. He said he’s sent their information to law enforcement for potential felony prosecution.
Speaking on Tuesday, Pate said he also found more than 2,000 people who said they weren’t citizens, and later voted or registered to vote.
It is possible those people could have become citizens before they voted. Pate said he’s directed counties to not count their votes until they provide proof of citizenship.
Joe Henry is political director for the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa. He says Pate’s actions are politically motivated.
“We’re concerned about this. We think that this will probably create a chilling effect with some people who have become citizens, or who may have always been citizens,” Henry said.
Last month, Pate said he didn’t think noncitizen voting was a widespread problem in Iowa. There’s no evidence that noncitizen voting is a widespread problem anywhere in the United States.
*In other news, a special event will be held Wednesday to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Woodbury County Drug Court.
That event will be held at 5 p.m. at Briar Cliff University in Sioux City. The drug court is designed to keep some people who are facing drug charges out of serving jail sentences.
The Woodbury County Drug Court began in 1999. It is operated by volunteers rather than judges, towards the goal of rehabilitating alcohol and drug users through individualized attention. The juvenile and adult drug offenders may receive probation rather than serving time in jail.
*Additionally, there are a number of special ballot measures on South Dakota ballots for this general election. Referred Law 21 is on the ballot for South Dakota people to decide the path forward with carbon pipelines.
The measure is based on Senate Bill 21, which backers call the ‘Landowner Bill of Rights,” as they push the merits of local control and property rights. That bill regulates many aspects of pipelines, including surcharges to landowners and pipeline depth.
Both opponents and proponents claim misinformation is being spread about what exactly the bill does and who it really serves.
DaNita Murray is the Executive Director of South Dakota Corn and supports the bill. She said there are many misconceptions, and clarified that it will not impact the authority for the pipeline company to utilize eminent domain powers.
Many agricultural groups support RL 21, but the South Dakota Farmers Union and South Dakota StockGrowers Association do not.
Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly specified the impact of the measure on eminent domain.
