Maryland Board of Elections Releases Undisguised Voter Registration of Undocumented Immigrant

The Maryland State Board of Elections has made public the voter registration records of an undocumented immigrant who once held the position of Iowa’s largest school superintendent. This disclosure comes after conservative groups threatened legal action, as reported by Fox News Digital.

The records revealed that Ian Andre Roberts, an undocumented immigrant originally from Guyana, had falsely claimed to be a U.S. citizen on his voter registration form.

Tom Jones, the director of the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), a conservative group advocating for transparency in voter registration, commented, “The record indicates what many of us suspected: Maryland isn’t really taking the matter of preventing noncitizens from voting seriously. It’s likely that there are numerous other non-citizens registered in Maryland.”

Initially, the Prince George’s election commission released a heavily redacted document. The blackouts obscured details like Roberts’ gender, whether he checked the citizenship box, and even his birth date. However, they later provided an unredacted version to a conservative legal entity, Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) and the AAF.

In a recent statement, RITE highlighted that the unedited documents “show that Mr. Roberts clearly stated he was a U.S. citizen on his voter registration application, and Maryland officials accepted that.” According to the unredacted document reviewed, Roberts indeed checked the “yes” box for U.S. citizenship.

Roberts, who first arrived in the U.S. in 1994, was serving as superintendent of the Des Moines Public School District when he was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in September. It’s worth mentioning that his work permit expired in 2020, making his employment unauthorized.

Many conservatives expressed their shock when they learned of an undocumented immigrant holding a significant educational position, especially as further scrutiny revealed a concerning criminal history. It was later discovered that he was registered as a Democratic voter in Maryland, where he had previously resided.

Despite the troubling revelations, the Maryland State Board of Elections had previously indicated that Roberts did not vote in any elections.

This incident raises serious questions about undocumented immigrants potentially voting in elections, prompting RITE to express concerns over Maryland’s process for removing non-citizens from voter rolls. According to the Maryland State Board of Elections, noncitizens can only be removed following self-reporting or referrals regarding their citizenship status.

RITE and AAF sought Roberts’ voter registration documents this year under the National Voter Registration Act, which aims to streamline voter registration for eligible individuals renewing their driver’s licenses. Initially, however, they received heavily redacted materials that lacked vital information about Roberts’ citizenship status.

In November, RITE’s president, Justin Riemer, reached out to the Prince George’s County Board of Elections, asking for more complete records. He warned of potential legal action if the county did not comply by a set deadline.

During a prior interview with Fox News Digital, Riemer was candid about his astonishment at the situation. He could not quite understand how such a serious oversight had occurred. “Given his criminal background, one would think there should have been proper checks in place to prevent this,” he remarked.

RITE celebrated its recent success in obtaining the unredacted records, suggesting that county officials chose not to contest the legal challenges and ultimately complied.

Since Roberts’ arrest, he has remained in U.S. marshal custody and is facing charges related to his immigration status, with authorities uncovering a lengthy history of law infractions dating back to 1996. His newest charges include trying to elude law enforcement, with officers finding him in possession of cash, a firearm, and a knife at the time of his arrest.

After his arrest, Roberts lost his position in the Iowa school district, and the Board of Educational Examiners revoked his license.

Efforts for further comments regarding Roberts’ voter record and Maryland’s vetting process for non-citizens were made to both the state and county election boards, but no immediate response was received.