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EXCLUSIVE: Maryland’s voter rolls are coming beneath Home Republican scrutiny after it was found that an unlawful immigrant serving as a superintendent of a large faculty system in Iowa was fraudulently registered to vote in Maryland, Fox Information Digital realized.
Home Committee on Home Administration chair Bryan Steil, R-Wisc., and Vice Chair Laurel Lee, R-Fla., despatched a letter to Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis on Thursday demanding solutions concerning Ian Andre Roberts’ registration to vote within the state regardless of not holding U.S. citizenship. The Home Administration Committee oversees Home operations and oversight and in addition is charged with contemplating proposals to amend federal election regulation.
Roberts’ voter registration paperwork have confronted intense scrutiny from conservatives, together with when a Maryland county board of elections launched redacted variations of the information in November that blacked out how Roberts answered the citizenship query.
“The Committee is worried in regards to the integrity and accuracy of Maryland’s citizenship verification processes, and subsequently the state’s voter rolls. To help the Committee’s oversight of this matter, please present the next info as quickly as doable,” the letter learn, hitting the election chief with 10 questions associated to the state’s voter position vetting course of and the prevalence of unlawful immigrants on voter rolls.
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Former Des Moines, Iowa, superintendent Ian Andre Roberts, who was detained by ICE and federally charged. (Polk County Sheriff)
The committee is urgent for particulars, asking: “Is Roberts nonetheless a registered voter in Maryland?;” “Has Mr. Roberts ever voted in Maryland? If sure, what election(s) did he take part in?;” “Was Mr. Roberts ever mailed an absentee poll? If sure, for which election(s)?” and “How does the State Board of Elections fulfill their obligations beneath 52 U.S.C. §20507 to conduct a common program to take away ineligible voters from the rolls?”
Maryland is a Democratic state, with the celebration controlling the places of work of governor, secretary of state, legal professional common and each chambers of the state legislature.
Roberts labored in Baltimore Metropolis Colleges between August 2001 and June 2010, together with serving as a trainer, resident principal and principal at varied factors throughout his profession in Maryland, native media beforehand reported.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested Roberts, who initially is from Guyana, in September. Roberts was working because the superintendent of the Des Moines, Iowa, public faculty system on the time of his arrest, which sparked widespread curiosity and concern that an unlawful immigrant was in such a high-profile place regardless of his employment authorization card expiring in 2020.
The arrest opened the floodgates to investigations into Roberts’ previous, together with uncovering a prolonged prison historical past within the U.S. that stretches again to 1996, when he was charged with prison possession of narcotics with intent to promote in New York.
Roberts additionally was found to be a registered voter in Maryland. It’s unlawful for noncitizens to vote in federal or state elections.
Maryland, together with 5 different states, was moreover hit with a lawsuit earlier in December filed by the Justice Division’s Civil Rights Division for “failure to provide their statewide voter registration lists upon request,” in accordance with the DOJ.
“The Division of Justice’s lawsuit towards the Maryland Board of Elections is a stark reminder of the deep-seated points plaguing our voter registration system,” Republican state delegate Matt Morgan, who’s chair of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, stated of Maryland’s voter roles to Fox Digital.
“For years, we have heard dismissals that non-citizens voting ‘by no means occurs,’ but Ian Andra Roberts’ story is irrefutable proof on the contrary. These revelations spotlight severe flaws that undermine public belief and the integrity of our elections. The Maryland Freedom Caucus helps the DOJ’s efforts to guard our democracy by making certain solely residents vote,” he continued.
HEAVILY REDACTED VOTING RECORDS FOR SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT NABBED BY ICE SPARK OUTRAGE
The Roberts saga heightened in November after the American Accountability Basis filed a public data request to acquire Roberts’ voter registration paperwork. The Prince George, Maryland, Board of Elections returned closely redacted paperwork that blacked out Roberts’ intercourse, whether or not he checked the citizenship field, his date of beginning and different info.
A vote right here signal forward of the 2025 election cycle. (Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg by way of Getty Pictures)
Conservative authorized group Restoring Integrity and Belief in Elections (RITE) despatched the board a warning letter shortly after to offer unredacted variations of the paperwork or face a possible courtroom battle. The county board complied in December, revealing Roberts fraudulently acknowledged he was an American citizen on the paperwork.
“When election officers try to cover eligibility data, the general public loses the power to confirm that the regulation is being adopted,” Restoring Integrity and Belief in Elections CEO and President Justin Riemer stated in a December press launch of the unredacted model of the information. “As soon as the data had been produced, we noticed simply how weak Maryland’s safeguards actually are. That is sadly all too widespread across the nation and federal legal guidelines do little to assist cease noncitizens from registering to vote.”
The Maryland State Board of Elections beforehand stated Roberts didn’t vote in elections.
“Information launched by the Maryland State Board of Elections verify {that a} noncitizen has efficiently registered to vote in Maryland on at the least two events,” Steil and Lee continued within the letter. “The scenario prompts ongoing issues that states should not verifying the citizenship of registrants. Oversight of federal elections is crucial to tell potential legislative reforms and safeguard the integrity of federal elections. The Committee is subsequently looking for info from the Maryland State Board of Elections.”
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The letter additionally took situation with the heavy redactions to Roberts’ paperwork once they had been initially launched.
“Mr. Roberts repeatedly claimed U.S. citizenship and remained a registered voter in Maryland for years, regardless of leaving the state over a decade in the past,” they wrote. “The American Accountability Basis filed a public data request for Mr. Roberts’s voter registration software. The unique launch of the paperwork contained heavy, intentional redactions, together with Mr. Roberts’s reply to the citizenship query. The following launch of Mr. Roberts’s software nonetheless redacts essential info such because the supply of his voter registration software.”
Republican Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil is main the cost in demanding solutions from the Maryland Board of Elections concerning unlawful immigrants on voter roles. (Greg Nash/Pool by way of Reuters)
The committee leaders argued that the “recurring redactions recommend that Maryland is both concealing an unintended voter registration of an unlawful alien or withholding details about its failure to confirm citizenship.”
The county board of elections instructed Fox Information Digital Wednesday that “the Prince George’s County Board of Elections adheres to all authorized and statutory necessities beneath the Federal and State Election Legal guidelines, in addition to the processes and necessities set forth inside the Maryland Code of Laws (COMAR.)”
“Following a assessment of the (Maryland public info act) request by authorized counsel, and after session with the Maryland State Board of Elections, given consideration to the NVRA statutory legal guidelines in addition to the accompanying reported Federal Circumstances addressing the topic of Election Board voter info disclosures, it was decided that a few of the info in query regarding Mr. Robers couldn’t be redacted. The scenario in regards to the beforehand redacted info was instantly rectified,” election administrator Wendy Honesty-Bey stated in an e-mail to Fox Information Digital.
Republicans say that unlawful immigrant Ian Andre Roberts being registered to vote in Maryland raises severe issues in regards to the state’s voting processes. (Keith Srakocic/AP Photograph and ICE)
Roberts was taken into the U.S. Marshall’s custody and can face prosecution, the Division of Homeland Safety stated in October.
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Roberts’ arrest, itself, additionally was mired in controversy. He tried to flee regulation enforcement officers, in accordance with the Division of Homeland Safety, and was discovered to be in possession of $3,000 in money, a Glock 9 mm pistol and a searching knife on the time of his arrest.
Roberts was criminally charged Oct. 2 with being an unlawful alien in possession of firearms, in accordance with the Division of Homeland Safety.
The costs are his newest in a prolonged rap sheet that goes again to 1996.
Roberts first arrived within the U.S. in 1994, in accordance with the Division of Homeland Safety, and confronted a cost for third-degree unauthorized use of a car in Queens, New York, in 1998 that was later dropped, a 2012 conviction for reckless driving in Maryland, second-degree prison possession of a weapon and different weapons fees in 2020, and a 2022 conviction for illegal possession of a loaded firearm in Pennsylvania.
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The Iowa Board of Instructional Examiners revoked Roberts’ training license following his arrest, and he’s now not permitted to function a superintendent within the state. The district is now suing the chief search agency that helped rent Roberts for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, common negligence and can be looking for financial damages, Fox Digital beforehand reported.
Fox Information Digital reached out to Roberts’ legal professional for any updates on the case.
“We’re reviewing all allegations at this level to find out their veracity,” Brandon Brown, an legal professional for Roberts, instructed Axios in October.
