Iowa driver’s licenses and nonoperator ID cards would be required to state whether the holder is a U.S. citizen under a bill being considered in the Iowa House.

A three-member subcommittee voted 2-1 Wednesday to advance House Study Bill 37, sending it to the House Judiciary Committee for consideration.

Under the bill, the information displayed on a driver’s license or nonoperator ID would have to specify someone’s “status as a citizen of the United States or status as a noncitizen authorized to be in the United States.”

The person’s citizenship status would be displayed on the back of the driver’s license or ID card.

Rep. Skyler Wheeler, R-Hull, said the bill was drafted with the intention of making sure only citizens can vote in elections in Iowa.

“We have every right as a state to ensure that only citizens are voting in our elections and we think that at this time this might be the right path,” he said. “We’ll have discussions and see if there’s a different path.”

Rep. Lindsay James, D-Dubuque, said driver’s licenses are used for more than voting and she’s concerned that putting a specific marker on the license could create an opening for discrimination.

“We’ve already heard that folks are using their driver’s license when they are renting cars, when they are purchasing things in a store, and the potential for discrimination when you have a unique identifier is significant,” she said.

It is a felony for a noncitizen to vote in Iowa under state and federal law. Iowa voters in November also amended the state’s constitution to include language saying that “only a citizen of the United States” can vote.

Weeks before the 2024 election, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said he was instructing county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 Iowans who he identified as potential noncitizens based on self-reported Department of Transportation data when Iowans applied for a license or other ID.

A statewide review from the Des Moines Register found that nearly 600 people on Pate’s list tried to vote in the election.

Of those, 506 proved they were citizens and successfully cast a ballot, while 74 had their absentee ballots rejected primarily because they did not provide proof of citizenship.

What did the public say about the bill requiring citizenship information on driver’s licenses?

Some speakers at Wednesday’s subcommittee meeting said they believe the bill would help make Iowa’s elections secure, while others said it singles out immigrants for discrimination.

Lori Stiles, a poll worker from Johnston and volunteer with the election transparency group Iowa Canvassing Volunteers, said the legislation “would help with securing our elections.”

“This designation or some such on a driver’s license would definitely help to identify people who are U.S. citizens,” she said. “Because only U.S. citizens should be voting in U.S. elections.”

Storm O’Brink, a North Liberty resident who works in social services, said the bill singles out immigrant families who are already afraid, “regardless of what their legal status is.”

“I am hopeful that you will hear me today about this,” O’Brink said. “There are people terrified and you can’t just do another thing to single them out in our state.”

Monty Montero-Elliott of Iowa City, whose father was a longtime green card holder from Spain, said the bill “puts a lot of people, frankly, in danger of scrutiny.”

“I think that this is a pointless thing to put on an ID card,” Montero-Elliott said. “I don’t see what it has to do with things that you use your ID for like getting a hotel reservation or renting a car or being able to buy alcohol or anything that you have to show an age ID for.”

Connie Ryan, executive director of Interfaith Alliance of Iowa, said the bill doesn’t fix the problem that the information about someone’s citizenship status could be out of date.

“I worry about people who aren’t yet citizens but are going through the process and they have to put that on their driver’s license and then we’re using those lists for voting,” she said. “And so there’s nothing that indicates when those lists are updated and whether or not they’re accurate.”

The bill does not require Iowans to update their driver’s license or ID if their citizenship status changes.

“That’s certainly something were going to have to walk through and talk through,” Wheeler said. “I would assume, if you’re naturalized obviously you’re going to make sure you have that updated.”

Republicans indicate driver’s license bill could see changes

Rep. Craig Williams, R-Manning, who sat on the subcommittee, said he doesn’t see the bill as discriminatory.

“I think this has some work to be done,” he said. “I’m not opposed to it and I would vote to push it forward.”

Wheeler said he’s open to hearing feedback if people have suggestions to improve the bill. He said House Republicans will continue having conversations about which direction they want the legislation to go.

“This is kind of in the, obviously, the very early stages, and people will come with different ideas,” he said. “Maybe they don’t think it’s the best idea, and they’ll look a different way. Maybe they think it’s a great idea. We have yet to have that conversation on a grand scale.”

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.