Secretary of State Matt Schultz and Attorney General Tom Miller. (L-R) (file photo)
Iowa’s Democrat Attorney General is working with the Republican Secretary of State in the fight against a request from the Iowa ACLU that seeks an injunction to block the state from purging non-residents from the voter rolls.
Attorney General Tom Miller was asked about the issue Friday.
“We’re working very closely with the Secretary of State and his office concerning the rules concerning registration to vote. There’s a lawsuit, we’re actively defending that lawsuit,” Miller says.
Secretary of State Matt Schultz plans to check a federal database of people who recently have become naturalized U.S. citizens.
After that cross-check, Schultz said those he still considers likely to be non-citizens will get a chance to appear at a hearing to prove they are a citizen. Miller says his office is helping Schultz’s.
“To try and shape a process ultimately where people who aren’t eligible to vote, do not vote. And people who are eligible to vote are not deterred or suppressed in any way from voting,” Miller says.
“Both of us are trying to handle this in a responsible way to balance those important issues, and we’re defending the lawsuit.”
The Iowa American Civil Liberties Union and the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa asked a judge to block Schultz’s plan, saying it would use lists that could remove eligible voters from the rolls.