The U.S. Federal Court in Des Moines heard oral arguments on a motion by the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa to block Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s directive to Iowa County Auditors requiring them to challenge the ballots of suspected noncitizens. 

The motion is part of a lawsuit brought by the ACLU of Iowa, its national counterpart, and several Iowa voters affected by Pate’s directive to county auditors to challenge the ballots of the more than 2,000 voters suspected of being non-citizens. 

Pate’s office compiled the list by cross-referencing the state’s voter registration roles and an outdated Iowa Department of Transportation database of noncitizens based on their responses on driver’s license applications. 

Once a voter’s ballot is challenged, they are required to cast a provisional ballot and must prove their citizenship to the county election board by Nov. 12. 

Several county auditors, including Johnson County Auditor Erin Shane, have found that many of those on the secret list are naturalized citizens and eligible to vote. 

The ACLU argued that the directive singled out naturalized citizens and violated federal law and constitutional protections. 

“At the end of the day, we have a directive from the Secretary of State on October 22 that is instructing these county auditors to target, harass and investigate these individuals,” Jesse Linebaugh, an attorney representing the League of United Latin American Citizens, said in a press conference on Friday afternoon. “It’s pretty simple that we are not going to do that to these American citizens when they show up to vote, full stop.” 

The state argued that the database was narrowed down to limit the possibility of burdening citizens’ rights to vote. They also said they are working with federal authorities to narrow down the list using U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service data. 

In a news release following the hearing, Pate and Attorney General Brenna Bird contended that about 250 on the list were noncitizens, and they are working with the federal government to get data on those individuals. 

Pate said in a release Thursday that his office had asked the USCIS field office in Des Moines to review and verify the citizenship status of those on the secret list. According to Pate, they refused to release the list after a directive from their D.C. office and are working on getting the compiled list. 

“Every legal vote must count and not be canceled out by a noncitizen’s illegal vote,” Bird said in a press release on Friday.  “State and federal law are clear. Today, we made our case in court to defend Iowa’s election integrity laws and safeguard the vote.

Judge Stephen Locher is expected to make his decision on the temporary injunction by Sunday.