Auditor/Recorder watching out for 51 possible noncitizen voters in Marshall County

T-R PHOTO BY LANA BRADSTREAM A sign outside of the Election Center in Marshalltown points to where people can cast their ballots for the Nov. 5 general election. Poll workers will be on the lookout for 51 people who self-identified as noncitizens but registered to vote.
The election process has gotten harder in Marshall County. Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson received a list of possible noncitizen names from the Iowa Secretary of State, and poll workers will have to watch for the 51 listed people. Some of the dates included with the names stretch back to 2017.
“The issue is the dates,” she said. “It’s weird, because some of them were a long time ago. I am questioning the information when it’s that old. We are working on trying to decipher everything and get together with the county attorney.”
The people on the Marshall County list self-identified as noncitizens to the Department of Transportation and also registered to vote. The list of 51 is included in 2,022 total names across the state.
Benson received the information late Friday afternoon, after regular working hours. She also learned of an organization claiming the state releasing the names is not legal. She was referring to the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), which is seeking access to the complete list of 2,022 names the state has. LULAC officials want to inform the people their names are included and give them information on how they can legally vote.
Benson does not like the length of time she and her election staff have to work with — a little more than one week before the Nov. 5 election.
“It bothers me because we can’t get the specifics right away, not in this time frame,” she said. “We’re trying to figure out what’s going on, what to do, what we shouldn’t do.”
Benson said by receiving the list, the Secretary of State is asking Marshall County poll workers to challenge voters whose names are listed, and give them provisional ballots. An example of a person needing a provisional ballot would be if they went to the polls, but discovered they accidentally left their required identification in their purse at a friend’s house in another town. That person would be given a provisional ballot, which would be placed in a special envelope and not run through the election machine. When the person shows up with the identification and proof of residence, the ballot is taken out of the special envelope and sent through the machine.
“We don’t turn anyone away,” she said. “The provisional ballots are why the official election results change slightly from the unofficial.”
Through the years, Benson has not seen any significant impact Marshall County provisional ballots have had. In the special July Marshalltown City Council election, there were no provisionals. In bigger elections, such as the upcoming presidential, she expects three or four.
“It’s still a nice tool to use if something happens,” she said. “It gives the person a few days to get something worked out.”
The government focus on noncitizens voting in the general election has had an impact. Benson said one person showed up at the Election Center last week to cast an early ballot and brought along citizenship papers.
“Those are definitely legitimate,” she said. “She shouldn’t have to do that, but she was excited to show her documents.”
Since early voting began on Oct. 16, 5,266 ballots have been submitted at either the Election Center or through the mail.
“That is 17.5 percent of voters, which is a good number,” Benson said. “We have been seeing 300, 400 people per day. There’s been a good number of people coming in wanting to vote. It’s been very busy, and I think it will keep getting busier.”
Benson said the amount of absentee ballots received from members of the major political parties through the mail has been relatively equal. The Marshall County Auditor’s office mailed 1,981 ballots to Democrat voters and received 1,617; 2,384 ballots were mailed to registered Republicans with 1,994 returned.
——
Contact Lana Bradstream
at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or
lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.