JOHNSTON, Iowa — On Wednesday Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate held an election security news conference, that is held every election year, to discuss different security aspects of Iowan’s vote.

Just last week, Sec. Pate announced the office had conducted an audit of the voter roll to crosscheck the information with the Iowa Department of Transportation’s records. The result found 2,022 names that may have been noncitizens who might have voted or registered to vote in the past. Pate answered questions about that audit today.

“We’re working off the only list that we have available to us unless the Department of Justice and Homeland Security is willing to give us the master list. This is the best we can do. We’re not stopping anyone from voting. They are still on the voter registration rolls. This is different than what you’re seeing in other states where they remove these people,” said Pate (R). “We are simply asking our poll workers to confirm their citizenship status because of the lag period and the records that we have available to us right now.”

The “lag period” Pate is referring to is that a noncitizen may be identified on the list after getting a driver’s license from the DOT, but afterwards eventually gained United States citizenship. The list goes back to 2000, so a wide range of names and driver’s license information was gathered.

On Wednesday the Iowa Attorney General’s Office announced that the Department of Justice called on Tuesday to discuss the 2,022 names listed on the audit. Attorney General Bird characterized the call as pressuring Iowa in letting noncitizens to vote.

“State and federal law are clear: only American citizens can vote in American elections. Now, just days before the 2024 election, the DOJ is attempting to undermine long-standing election integrity laws and pressure Iowa into letting noncitizens vote. But I have news for Biden and Harris: not on my watch. Every legal vote must count and not be canceled by an illegal vote. In Iowa, we will defend our election integrity laws and protect the vote.”

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R)

Some on the list may be citizens of the United States, as Sec. Pate mentioned. For those individuals to be able to vote they will have to provide proof of citizenship: a U.S. passport, U.S. birth certificate, etc. to able to cast a ballot, and not a provisional.

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