Republicans in the Iowa Senate passed a bill Monday that aims to strengthen checks of voters’ citizenship status.
It would allow the state to contract with federal, state and private entities to help verify the eligibility of voters. Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, says Iowa needs to update its laws to maintain election integrity as conditions and challenges change.
“In the most recent election, we learned about one of those new challenges when 40 noncitizens voted and 35 of those votes were counted … This bill provides more tools for our elections officials to use to maintain that longstanding tradition of integrity.”
Democrats raised concerns about a provision that would allow poll workers to question voters about their citizenship status. They are worried eligible voters could be racially profiled and prevented from voting.
The bill would also ban ranked choice voting and make it harder for political parties to earn major party status. It’s now on its way to the governor’s desk for her signature.