Federal judge allows Iowa election workers to check citizenship status

DES MOINES — A federal judge has rejected a bid to block Secretary of State Paul Pate’s order that election workers check the citizenship status of over 2000 people who have registered to vote in the state of Iowa.

US District Judge Stephen Locher, an appointee of President Biden and a Mason City native, sided with the state in the lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of the League of Latin American Citizens of Iowa and four recently naturalized citizens.

State officials argued that investigating and potentially removing the names would prevent illegal voting by non-citizens.

Locher in his ruling pointed to a US Supreme Court decision four days earlier that allowed Virginia to resume similar activity.