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A federal judge has ruled that Iowa can continue to challenge the validity of hundreds of ballots cast by potential non-citizens, although critics said the effort jeopardized the voting rights of people who recently became U.S. citizens.

U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher, an appointee of President Joe Biden, weighed in on a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union in the Iowa capital of Des Moines on behalf of the League of Latino Citizens of Iowa and four recently naturalized citizens. on the side of the state. The four were on the state's list of questionable registrations to be challenged by local election officials.

The state's Republican attorney general and secretary of state argued that the investigation and possible removal of 2,000 names from the list would prevent illegal voting by noncitizens. Republican Party officials in the U.S. have made the possibility of non-citizen immigrants voting a major election year talking point, even if it rarely occurs. Their focus is on former President Donald Trump's false claim that his opponents are already committing fraud to prevent his return to the White House.

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In his ruling, Locher pointed to a U.S. Supreme Court decision four days earlier that allowed Virginia to pursue a similar purge of its voter rolls, even though some U.S. citizens were affected. He also noted the Supreme Court's recent refusal to review a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision on state election laws related to provisional ballots. These Supreme Court decisions advise lower courts “to proceed with great caution before granting a last-minute injunction,” he wrote.

Locher also said the state's efforts do not remove anyone from voter rolls, but rather require some voters to use provisional ballots.

In a statement, Iowa's Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds welcomed the ruling.

“Today’s ruling is a victory for election integrity,” Reynolds said. “While we encourage all citizens in Iowa to vote, we will enforce the law and ensure those votes are not wiped out by the illegal voting of a non-citizen.”

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Rita Bettis Austen, legal director for the ACLU of Iowa, said some voters could be disenfranchised as a result of the ruling and Secretary of State Paul Pate's order.

“We are obviously disappointed with the court's decision not to block Minister Pate's directive outright, as we still fear that it will result in eligible voters being disenfranchised simply because they are people in the have become citizens in recent years,” Austen said in a written statement. “Even the secretary agrees that the vast majority of voters on his list are U.S. citizens.”

Immigrants obtain citizenship through a process called naturalization, which includes establishing residency, demonstrating knowledge of basic American history and institutions, and taking an oath of allegiance to the United States.

AP