The Winneshiek County Auditor is raising concerns about Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s order to challenge the ballots of over two-thousand Iowans flagged as potential non-citizens. Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson reports.

This (Friday) afternoon, a federal judge heard arguments in the lawsuit that alleges Pate’s order is violating the rights of Iowans who have recently become U-S citizens. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office defended the action and Bird says it’s about making sure legally cast votes aren’t cancelled out by non-citizens.

Secretary of State Pate says the federal government is refusing the share data that’s critical to ensuring only eligible U.S. citizens vote in our elections. The driver’s license data Pate used indicates at some point in the past two decades over two-thousand people who are on Iowa’s list of registered voters told the D-O-T they were legal residents, but not citizens of the United States.