(Radio Iowa) – A federal judge has rejected a bid to block Secretary of State Paul Pate’s order that election workers check the citizenship status of over two-thousand people who’ve registered to vote in Iowa. The judge said about 12 percent of people on Pate’s list apparently aren’t U-S citizens and it would be inappropriate to force election officials to let ineligible voters cast ballots. Pate says the ruling is a win for election integrity.

The ACLU of Iowa sued the state last week on behalf of four naturalized U-S citizens. The group’s legal counsel says they’re still concerned some Iowans who become citizens in the past several years will not be able to vote, but they’re glad Pate has now agreed that people on the list may present their naturalization papers at a polling place and cast a regular ballot.

Pate released the list two weeks ago and originally said people flagged as potential non-citizens had to cast a provisional ballot, then go to their county auditor AFTER Election Day to prove their citizenship.