DAVENPORT - Scott County has not received the names of the 180 people who allegedly committed voter fraud in the area.
Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz says she was hoping to receive the numbers by Tuesday. Moritz was hoping that Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz would release the names of the people he thought were involved. However, she still doesn't believe the number is accurate.
"I can't think that out of 1,400 people, there are 180 of them in Scott County," Moritz said. "I just can't fathom that."
Moritz thinks some may have committed voter fraud accidentally. She believes some legal U.S. residents may have actually applied to vote before they were U.S. citizens.
"It's easy," Moritz said when asked how hard it is to commit the fraud. "Somebody gives them the voter registration form. They don't read the last question which says, 'Are you a citizen?' They answer, 'yes,' and then you sign it."
The U.S. citizenship question is question number six on the Iowa Voter Registration Form. The form is something you can pick up at any DMV location in the state.
Immigration Counselor Gricelda Garnica tries to keep immigrants from checking 'yes' before they are U.S. citizens. Legal residents cannot vote in the United States. Only U.S. citizens can.
"I will try to remind them that the client is not eligible to vote until they are a registered U.S. citizen," Garnica said. "On their citizenship application, they will ask, 'have you ever registered to vote?' and sometimes they will say, 'yes.'"
If they answer 'yes' to that question, that could be a major problem. People who vote in U.S. elections who are not U.S. citizens run the risk of being deported.
"They will lose their residency," Garnica said. "They will lose everything."
Mistakenly registering is just one reason why there may be voter fraud currently in the county. No word on when Schultz will release his 180 names. The state is currently applying for a system which would tell them whether the people voting are actually U.S. citizens.