CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – An audit by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office found 277 non-citizens voted, or are registered to vote.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said the agency was able to compare data from the federal SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) program and the self-reported non-citizen data received from the Iowa Department of Transportation to get that number.
Pate said having access to data from the SAVE program allowed his office to reduce the former estimate of 2,186 potential non-citizens to 277 confirmed non-citizens.
The audit found 35 non-citizens had cast ballots that were counted in the 2024 General Election, and five non-citizens had attempted to cast ballots that were rejected.
Some of the ballots were normal ballots cast at a polling place on Election Day, and others were absentee ballots. A total of 22 non-citizens registered to vote, but did not vote in the 2024 election.
Pate said these non-citizens will be turned over to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and Iowa Department of Public Safety for investigation and next steps.
“Only eligible Iowa voters should participate in Iowa elections,” Pate said. ”We are working with the Iowa legislature on solutions to verify citizenship at registration rather than as ballots are cast, and we’re confident both chambers will recognize the importance of this legislation. Our proposed solutions will be crucial next steps in confidently balancing voter participation with election integrity.”
Pate also said his office is pursuing legal action against the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
That legal action comes after Pate said the USCIS denied his office’s request for clarifying data about the non-citizens.
“Maintaining election integrity is a team sport, and we need cooperation from multiple agencies, including the federal government,” said Secretary Pate. “We are hopeful that between our legislative proposals and this lawsuit, we will have the tools we need to verify voter eligibility during the voter registration processes, allowing us to ensure in the future, only eligible Iowa voters are participating in Iowa elections.”
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
This post was originally published on here
