DES MOINES, Iowa — In one month Iowa lawmakers will gavel in the 91st General Assembly. With the new session inbound, state officials are outlining legislative goals they want to see pursued this session.
Just before the 2024 election, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate released a list of more than 2,000 individuals that could have voted or registered to vote in the state that were not United States citizens. Pate sent specific names to different precincts to have poll workers challenge the individual to a provisional ballot. Now, in 2025, Pate is looking to have language passed by Iowa lawmakers to give the state access to the federal ‘SAVE’ list.
“What we’re asking for is we want that list with the Social Security number, because now I can cross-check that immediately and find out,” said Pate, (R). “And to me, that’s a major step in the right direction to where we want to go on these questions, because we’re already doing voter ID. So when you come in, we are verifying you are Paul Pate, we are verifying you do live at this address. Now we’re just getting one more piece of what we need to qualify those folks to make sure they’re eligible.”
The SAVE list has information of every legal noncitizen in the U.S., Pate requested the list before the general election but the federal government never gave the state authorization to access the information. The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 does not allow states to confirm citizenship status when registering to vote. Pate hopes to have the SAVE list to crosscheck citizenship after someone has registered. The state joined in a lawsuit earlier this month arguing the federal government is withholding information states should have access to.
“Sadly, I think that’s why we didn’t get the list. I think there was some partisanship going on in D.C.,” said Pate. He said that Iowa Republicans have been discussing the issue and he hopes that this will be an issue that can make it through both chambers this session.
Two other priorities — sharpening up recount and technical policy.
“We’re seeing that we’ve had this congressional recount not once, but twice now,” said Pate. “So, we want to make sure we’re getting that finalized a little better. So, we’re going to expand the size of the recount boards or at least give them the option.”
A bill Pate will introduce will require all counties to canvass on Tuesday, specifying that recounts must be district-wide within the county and change the number of those on recount board by population of the county.
The last portion that the office will look to push is requiring all county auditors to share results of cybersecurity risks with the state. The session starts on Jan. 13, 2025.
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