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EXCLUSIVE: Maryland’s voter rolls are coming under House Republican scrutiny after it was discovered that an illegal immigrant serving as a superintendent of a massive school system in Iowa was fraudulently registered to vote in Maryland, Fox News Digital learned.
House Committee on House Administration chair Bryan Steil, R-Wisc., and Vice Chair Laurel Lee, R-Fla., sent a letter to Maryland State Board of Elections Administrator Jared DeMarinis on Thursday demanding answers regarding Ian Andre Roberts’ registration to vote in the state despite not holding U.S. citizenship. The House Administration Committee oversees House operations and oversight and also is charged with considering proposals to amend federal election law.
Roberts’ voter registration documents have faced intense scrutiny from conservatives, including when a Maryland county board of elections released redacted versions of the files in November that blacked out how Roberts answered the citizenship question.
“The Committee is concerned about the integrity and accuracy of Maryland’s citizenship verification processes, and therefore the state’s voter rolls. To assist the Committee’s oversight of this matter, please provide the following information as soon as possible,” the letter read, hitting the election chief with 10 questions related to the state’s voter role vetting process and the prevalence of illegal immigrants on voter rolls.
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The committee is pressing for details, asking: “Is Roberts still a registered voter in Maryland?;” “Has Mr. Roberts ever voted in Maryland? If yes, what election(s) did he participate in?;” “Was Mr. Roberts ever mailed an absentee ballot? If yes, for which election(s)?” and “How does the State Board of Elections fulfill their obligations under 52 U.S.C. §20507 to conduct a general program to remove ineligible voters from the rolls?”
Maryland is a Democratic state, with the party controlling the offices of governor, secretary of state, attorney general and both chambers of the state legislature.
Roberts worked in Baltimore City Schools between August 2001 and June 2010, including serving as a teacher, resident principal and principal at various points across his career in Maryland, local media previously reported.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials arrested Roberts, who originally is from Guyana, in September. Roberts was working as the superintendent of the Des Moines, Iowa, public school system at the time of his arrest, which sparked widespread interest and concern that an illegal immigrant was in such a high-profile position despite his employment authorization card expiring in 2020.
The arrest opened the floodgates to investigations into Roberts’ past, including uncovering a lengthy criminal history in the U.S. that stretches back to 1996, when he was charged with criminal possession of narcotics with intent to sell in New York.
Roberts also was discovered to be a registered voter in Maryland. It is illegal for noncitizens to vote in federal or state elections.
Maryland, along with five other states, was additionally hit with a lawsuit earlier in December filed by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division for “failure to produce their statewide voter registration lists upon request,” according to the DOJ.
“The Department of Justice’s lawsuit against the Maryland Board of Elections is a stark reminder of the deep-seated issues plaguing our voter registration system,” Republican state delegate Matt Morgan, who is chair of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, said of Maryland’s voter roles to Fox Digital.
“For years, we’ve heard dismissals that non-citizens voting ‘never happens,’ yet Ian Andra Roberts’ story is irrefutable proof to the contrary. These revelations highlight serious flaws that undermine public trust and the integrity of our elections. The Maryland Freedom Caucus supports the DOJ’s efforts to protect our democracy by ensuring only citizens vote,” he continued.
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The Roberts saga heightened in November after the American Accountability Foundation filed a public records request to obtain Roberts’ voter registration documents. The Prince George, Maryland, Board of Elections returned heavily redacted documents that blacked out Roberts’ sex, whether he checked the citizenship box, his date of birth and other information.
Conservative legal group Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) sent the board a warning letter shortly after to provide unredacted versions of the documents or face a potential court battle. The county board complied in December, revealing Roberts fraudulently stated he was an American citizen on the documents.
“When election officials attempt to hide eligibility records, the public loses the ability to verify that the law is being followed,” Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections CEO and President Justin Riemer said in a December press release of the unredacted version of the files. “Once the records were produced, we saw just how weak Maryland’s safeguards really are. This is unfortunately all too common around the country and federal laws do little to help stop noncitizens from registering to vote.”
The Maryland State Board of Elections previously said Roberts did not vote in elections.
“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,” Steil and Lee continued in the letter. “The situation prompts ongoing concerns that states are not verifying the citizenship of registrants. Oversight of federal elections is critical to inform potential legislative reforms and safeguard the integrity of federal elections. The Committee is therefore seeking information from the Maryland State Board of Elections.”
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The letter also took issue with the heavy redactions to Roberts’ documents when they were initially released.
“Mr. Roberts repeatedly claimed U.S. citizenship and remained a registered voter in Maryland for years, despite leaving the state over a decade ago,” they wrote. “The American Accountability Foundation filed a public records request for Mr. Roberts’s voter registration application. The original release of the documents contained heavy, intentional redactions, including Mr. Roberts’s answer to the citizenship question. The subsequent release of Mr. Roberts’s application still redacts crucial information such as the source of his voter registration application.”
The committee leaders argued that the “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.”
The county board of elections told Fox News Digital Wednesday that “the Prince George’s County Board of Elections adheres to all legal and statutory requirements under the Federal and State Election Laws, as well as the processes and requirements set forth within the Maryland Code of Regulations (COMAR.)”
“Following a review of the (Maryland public information act) request by legal counsel, and after consultation with the Maryland State Board of Elections, given consideration to the NVRA statutory laws as well as the accompanying reported Federal Cases addressing the subject of Election Board voter information disclosures, it was determined that some of the information in question concerning Mr. Robers could not be redacted. The situation concerning the previously redacted information was immediately rectified,” election administrator Wendy Honesty-Bey said in an email to Fox News Digital.
Roberts was taken into the U.S. Marshall’s custody and will face prosecution, the Department of Homeland Security said in October.
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Roberts’ arrest, itself, also was mired in controversy. He attempted to flee law enforcement officers, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and was found to be in possession of $3,000 in cash, a Glock 9 mm pistol and a hunting knife at the time of his arrest.
Roberts was criminally charged Oct. 2 with being an illegal alien in possession of firearms, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The charges are his latest in a lengthy rap sheet that goes back to 1996.
Roberts first arrived in the U.S. in 1994, according to the Department of Homeland Security, and faced a charge for third-degree unauthorized use of a vehicle in Queens, New York, in 1998 that was later dropped, a 2012 conviction for reckless driving in Maryland, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and other weapons charges in 2020, and a 2022 conviction for unlawful possession of a loaded firearm in Pennsylvania.
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The Iowa Board of Educational Examiners revoked Roberts’ education license following his arrest, and he is no longer permitted to serve as a superintendent in the state. The district is now suing the executive search firm that helped hire Roberts for breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation, general negligence and is also seeking monetary damages, Fox Digital previously reported.
Fox News Digital reached out to Roberts’ attorney for any updates on the case.
“We’re reviewing all allegations at this point to determine their veracity,” Brandon Brown, an attorney for Roberts, told Axios in October.
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