An Iowa judge today froze emergency rules to verify the eligibility of about 3,500 voters until a lawsuit is resolved.
Polk County District Judge Mary Pat Gunderson issued a temporary injunction against the two rules, which Secretary of State Matt Schultz enacted in July, says the Des Moines Register.
After comparing voter rolls with the Iowa Transportation Department's a list of those with driver's licenses, Schultz, a Republican, said in a statement responding to the lawsuit that he "determined that more than 3,500 foreign nationals registered to vote in Iowa since 2008, and about 1,200 voted in the 2010 general election."
One new rule would compare the voter rolls with a federal immigration database, while the other would allow for unsworn allegations of voter fraud against an individual.
Last month, the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa and League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa sued to block the rules.
Without ruling on the merits of the lawsuit, Gunderson said her temporary injunction caused less potential harm than possibly disqualifying qualified voters.
The rules "have in fact created confusion and mistrust in the voter registration process," she wrote, and "have created fear that new citizens will lose their right to vote and/or be charged with a felony and caused some qualified voters to feel deterred from even registering to vote."
The Iowa ACLU said in a statement, "Central to our legal efforts is our request for an injunction, filed August 10, asking the judge to order Schultz's efforts to move forward with purging Iowa's voter registration lists and to remove safeguards for preventing false allegations of voter fraud."
Schultz did not release a statement, but Attorney General Tom Miller did, says the Register, which is published by Gannett, USA TODAY's parent.
"This case involves finding a delicate balance between using the tools available to enforce an existing state law, and ensuring that our government does not deter even a single person from casting a vote," Miller said. "In this case we argued that Secretary Schultz's emergency rules would have enabled his office to gain access to existing, real-time federal records that can provide an extra safeguard to anyone who's voting eligibility has been called into question. We will continue to work with Secretary Schultz to strike the right balance."
