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Secretary of State presents voter-roll maintenance review, cites citizenship verifications and record gaps
Summary
Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane told the Senate State Affairs Committee his office reviewed about 1 million registrations under an executive order to verify citizenship, reducing an initial 678 "non-citizen" flags to 34 removals and prompting 15,000 registration updates after 80,000 mailings.
Phil McGrane, Idaho Secretary of State, told the Senate State Affairs Committee that his office completed a statewide voter-roll maintenance review under Idaho Code §34-418 and in connection with Governor Little’s 2024 "Only Citizens Will Vote Act." His office reviewed roughly one million registered voters to verify citizenship and cross-checked records with the Idaho Transportation Department, the Department of Health and Welfare Bureau of Vital Statistics, and the Department of Corrections.
McGrane said that when Idaho Transportation Department records were checked against U.S. Department of Homeland Security data at driver's license application, 678 registrants were initially flagged as non-citizens; subsequent follow-up and additional record checks reduced that number to 34 removals from the voter rolls. He described the effort as dependent on federal naturalization records and said gaps in those records — including cases where children automatically naturalized with a parent but received no documentation — limited verification efforts.
The Secretary of State's office also used the U.S. Postal Service National Change of Address database to identify about 80,000 registrants flagged as potentially moved and mailed postcards inviting updates; about 15,000 people updated their voter registration as a result, McGrane said.
Committee members asked about documentation and process. Vice Chairman Bernt asked when children who become citizens through a parent's naturalization receive documentation; McGrane said documentation should be provided at naturalization and that he would advocate for improved processes and databases. Senator Ruchti asked about the statutory maintenance purge that removes voters who have not voted in four years; McGrane confirmed removals follow Idaho Code and noted one recurring data-entry error had been addressed by programming changes.
The committee did not take formal action on the report; the presentation concluded and the committee proceeded to bills on the agenda.
