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A federal judge has ruled that Iowa poll workers may continue to challenge the ballots of over 2,000 Iowans identified on a flawed list of potential noncitizens, rejecting a request to compel counties to allow those individuals to vote normally.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, directed county auditors on October 22 to challenge the ballots of 2,176 registered voters who had previously informed the Iowa Department of Transportation that they were not U.S. citizens, the Des Moines Register reported.

Any voter facing a challenge must submit a provisional ballot, which will only be counted if they can provide proof of citizenship by November 12.

A coalition of naturalized citizens and the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa filed a lawsuit, arguing that Pate’s directive to county auditors unfairly required naturalized citizens—who are eligible to vote—to navigate additional obstacles in order to cast their ballots, simply because they had obtained a driver’s license prior to becoming citizens.

In a decision issued on Sunday, U.S. District Judge Stephen Locher noted that both parties appear to agree that a portion of the individuals on the list are indeed not U.S. citizens, the outlet reported. Locher, a former federal prosecutor, is a Biden appointee.

“This portion appears to be relatively small — no more than 12% — but, still, the injunctive relief requested by plaintiffs effectively would force local election officials to permit those individuals to vote,” Locher wrote. “Whatever concerns plaintiffs might have about the nature and timing of Secretary Pate’s letter, it would not be appropriate for the court to respond by granting injunctive relief that effectively forces local election officials to allow ineligible voters to vote.”

The outlet noted that it’s a felony for a noncitizen to vote in Iowa.

In a statement, Pate called the decision “a win for Iowa’s election integrity.”

“U.S. elections are for U.S. citizens, and ensuring only eligible voters participate in Iowa’s election process is essential to protecting the integrity of the vote,” he said. “The role of Iowa Secretary of State requires balance — ensuring that on one hand, every eligible voter is able to cast their ballot while also ensuring that only eligible voters participate in Iowa elections. Both of these are critical components to Iowa election integrity.”

Locher stated that recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings concerning voter rolls and provisional ballots in other states “advises the Court to proceed with great caution before granting last-minute injunctive relief regarding how Iowa officials manage election matters.”

In Virginia, the the nation’s highest court permitted the state to remove 1,600 voters from its rolls due to discrepancies between its voter registration records and other state records after the Biden-Harris Justice Department sued the state to force officials there to leave noncitizens on voter rolls.

Locher described the Virginia case as “a more aggressive version of what Secretary Pate is doing here,” noting that Pate has not ordered any Iowa voters to be removed from the voter rolls, the Des Moines outlet reported.

To grant an injunction in the Hawkeye State, Locher wrote, “this court would be disregarding how the Supreme Court handled a situation in which the plaintiffs had an even stronger legal argument than plaintiffs have here. This the court cannot do.”

While Pate initially directed county auditors to challenge the ballots of all individuals on the list, he later indicated that voters who can demonstrate their citizenship at the polls or whose citizenship has been verified by the county auditor should be permitted to cast a regular ballot.

“The auditor has the latitude,” he said. “If they know the answer already, then there’s no point in challenging.”

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