Auditor/Registrar observing 51 potential non-citizen Marshall County voters

TR PHOTO: LANA BRADSTREAM A sign outside the Marshalltown Election Center indicates where you can vote in the November 5 general election. Poll workers will be looking for 51 people who identified themselves as foreigners but registered to vote.

The electoral process in Marshall County has become more difficult. Auditor/Registrar Nan Benson received a list from the Iowa Secretary of State that may include non-citizens, and poll workers will need to check whether 51 people are on the list. Some dates included in the names date back to 2017.

“The problem is the dates,” she said. “It’s strange because some of them happened a long time ago. I question this information since it is so old. We are working to decipher everything and contact the district attorney.”

People on the Marshall County list identified themselves to the Department of Transportation as non-citizens and also registered to vote. The list of 51 includes a total of 2,022 names across the state.

Benson received the information late Friday afternoon, after normal business hours. She also learned of an organization that maintains that it is illegal for the state to release names. She was referring to the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which is seeking access to the state’s full list of 2,022 names. LULAC officials want to inform citizens whose names are listed there and provide them with information on how they can legally vote.

Benson doesn’t like the amount of time she and her campaign staff have to work – just over a week before the November 5 election.

“It worries me because we can’t know the details right away, not at this time,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out what’s going on, what to do, what we shouldn’t do.”

Benson said that once the Secretary of State receives the list, he asks Marshall County election workers to challenge voters whose names are on the list and provide them with provisional ballots. An example of a situation where a person needs a provisional ballot might be if they went to the polls but accidentally left the required ID in their purse with a friend in another city. That person would receive a provisional ballot that would be placed in a special envelope and not passed through the voting machine. After a person shows up with proof of identity and proof of residence, the voting card is removed from a special envelope and sent through the machine.

“We don’t turn anyone away,” she said. “Provisional ballots make the official election results slightly different from the unofficial ones.”

Over the years, Benson hasn’t seen any significant impact of provisional ballots in Marshall County. There were no provisional elections in the July special election for the Marshalltown City Council. In larger elections, such as the upcoming presidential election, three or four are expected.

“It’s still a useful tool to use if something happens,” she said. “It gives the person a few days to work something out.”

The government’s focus on foreigners voting in general elections had its consequences. Benson said one person showed up at the Voting Center last week to cast an early ballot and brought with them proof of citizenship.

“These are definitely legal,” she said. “She shouldn’t have done it, but she was excited to show her papers.”

Since early voting began on Oct. 16, 5,266 ballots have been returned to the Election Center or by mail.

“That’s 17.5 percent of the electorate, and that’s a good number,” Benson said. “We receive 300, 400 people a day. There were many people willing to vote. It was very busy and I think it will get even busier.”

Benson said the number of absentee ballots received by mail from members of the major political parties is relatively even. The Marshall County Auditor’s Office sent 1,981 ballots to Democratic voters and received 1,617; 2,384 ballots were sent to registered Republicans and 1,994 were returned.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

[email protected].