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EXCLUSIVE: Maryland’s prime election officers are going through renewed scrutiny from Congressional Republicans after the state’s administrator of elections declined to supply definitive solutions in regards to the state’s voter rolls after it was found an unlawful immigrant serving as a superintendent of a large college system in Iowa was fraudulently registered to vote in Maryland, Fox Information Digital discovered.
“Maryland’s chief elections official failed to supply full solutions, leaving critical issues unresolved — mainly whether or not Ian Roberts ever acquired a stay poll and whether or not the State has carried out new protocols to confirm citizenship after this bombshell report,” Republican Wisconsin Rep. Bryan Steil solely instructed Fox Information Digital Wednesday.
“This case underscores the pressing want for stronger citizenship verification necessities when registering to vote — which was reaffirmed by President Trump simply yesterday in his assembly with Home lawmakers. The Committee’s investigation will proceed,” he continued.
Steil is the chair of the Home Committee on Home Administration. He and Vice Chair Laurel Lee, R-Fla., despatched a letter to Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis in December 2025, demanding solutions concerning illegal immigrant Ian Andre Roberts’ registration to vote within the state regardless of not holding U.S. citizenship. Roberts is initially from Guyana with ties to the U.S. going again to the Nineteen Nineties.
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Former Des Moines superintendent Ian Andre Roberts who was detained by ICE federally charged (Polk County Sheriff)
The Home Administration Committee oversees Home operations and oversight and in addition is charged with contemplating proposals to amend federal election regulation.
The committee pressed for solutions to questions resembling: “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 underneath 52 U.S.C. §20507 to conduct a basic program to take away ineligible voters from the rolls?”
Fox Information Digital solely obtained DeMarinis’ response letter to the Home Committee on Home Administration, which defended the state’s voter registration system however stopped wanting confirming whether or not Ian Andre Roberts, an unlawful immigrant later arrested by ICE, was ever mailed an absentee poll or stays registered to vote.
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“Whereas no voter must be on the Maryland voter rolls if they don’t seem to be a citizen of america, being on the voter rolls doesn’t equate to having voted in an election. This is a vital distinction as we examine potential illegalities and potential prosecution,” DeMarinis wrote within the response letter dated Jan. 5.
Committee on Home Administration Chairman Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., talking at a press convention and flanked by fellow committee Reps. Laurel Lee, R-Fla., and Stephanie Bice, R-Okla., in Marietta, Georgia on Monday, July 10, 2023. (Committee on Home Administration)
The Maryland State Administrator of Elections did acknowledge the Home Administration Committee’s questions particularly as they relate to Roberts, however couldn’t provide definitive data.
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“Concerning the Committee’s questions regarding Ian Andre Roberts, SBE doesn’t and can’t affirm that the identification of a voter matches that of one other voter document in one other state, primarily based merely on the general public going through data accessible,” he wrote. “Even in different states, as in Maryland, public data on these voter lookups is restricted with the intention to shield private figuring out data (PII) from disclosure. Public voter lookup instruments should not designed to carry out voter listing upkeep procedures. Subsequently, SBE won’t affirm whether or not the person in query is or isn’t or was or was not a registered voter in Maryland.”
He added that public voting historical past in Maryland didn’t yield outcomes that “any particular person with the identify Ian Andre Roberts in Maryland” had a voting historical past within the blue state.
Maryland Republican Delegate Matt Morgan, chairman of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, instructed Fox Digital on Wednesday that, “The Maryland State Board of Elections is dropping the ball.”
“By failing to adjust to a primary knowledge request, they’re fueling suspicion,” he stated. “Their main job is to show our elections are safe and restricted to residents, but they’ve chosen secrecy over transparency. If there’s nothing to hide, why withhold the information? It’s time for the SBE to cease dodging questions and begin offering solutions.”
Roberts’ voter registration paperwork have confronted intense scrutiny from conservatives, together with when a Maryland county board of elections launched redacted variations of the recordsdata in November that blacked out how Roberts answered the citizenship query.
Voting cubicles are pictured on Election Day. (Paul Richards/AFP through Getty Pictures)
DeMarinis stated the redactions of “the unique manufacturing of the voter document was made with redactions making use of to basic requests for data underneath Maryland’s Public data Act, reasonably than requests particularly for a voter document.”
“As soon as realized, a corrected document was produced. The data redacted was redacted pursuant to State and federal legal guidelines that allow withholding of sure voter data. Federal regulation requires the redaction of supply of voter registration,” he stated, referring to an up to date launch of the paperwork that confirmed Roberts reported he was a U.S. citizen on his voter software.
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Roberts served as superintendent of the Des Moines college district, the most important college district in Iowa, on the time of his arrest in October. The state revoked Roberts’ training license following his arrest and is now not serving because the district’s prime chief.
Republicans say that unlawful alien Ian Andre Roberts being registered to vote in Maryland raises critical issues concerning the state’s voting processes. (Keith Srakocic/AP Picture and ICE)
He initially tried to flee regulation enforcement officers, based on 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.
The fees are his newest in a prolonged rap sheet that goes again to 1996, federal officers have beforehand stated.
“In the long run, it is very important bear in mind as our tenet that because the Maryland Declaration of Rights states, ‘the fitting of the Folks to take part within the Legislature is one of the best safety of liberty and the inspiration of all free Authorities; . . . and each citizen having the {qualifications} prescribed by the Structure, must have the fitting of suffrage,’” DeMarinis concluded his letter.
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Fox Information Digital reached out to DeMarinis’ workplace Wednesday concerning Steil’s remark however didn’t instantly obtain a reply.
