Committee on House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil and Subcommittee on Elections Chair Laurel Lee have sent a letter to the Maryland State Board of Elections following reports that a noncitizen was able to register to vote in Maryland. The request for information comes after records indicated that an individual who is not a U.S. citizen registered to vote in the state on at least two occasions.
In their letter, Steil and Lee stated, "Records released by the Maryland State Board of Elections confirm that a noncitizen has successfully registered to vote in Maryland on at least two occasions. The situation prompts ongoing concerns that states are not verifying the citizenship of registrants."
The case involves Ian Andre Roberts, who served as superintendent of Des Moines, Iowa public schools and was arrested in September 2025 for "being an illegal alien in possession of firearms." According to the letter, "Mr. Roberts repeatedly claimed U.S. citizenship and remained a registered voter in Maryland for years, despite leaving the state over a decade ago."
The American Accountability Foundation requested Mr. Roberts’s voter registration application through public records. The lawmakers noted, "The original release of the documents contained heavy, intentional redactions, including Mr. Roberts’s answer to the citizenship question." They added that even after further disclosure, "the subsequent release of Mr. Roberts’s application still redacts crucial information such as the source of his voter registration application. These recurring redactions suggest that Maryland is either concealing an accidental voter registration of an illegal alien or withholding information about its failure to verify citizenship."
Steil and Lee concluded by expressing concern about Maryland's processes: "Based on this information, the Committee is concerned about the integrity and accuracy of Maryland’s citizenship verification processes, and therefore the state’s voter rolls."
The Committee on House Administration holds broad oversight authority over federal elections and views such oversight as essential for informing legislative reforms and maintaining election integrity.
