A pair of watchdog groups is demanding that Maryland election officials release an unredacted voter registration application for Ian Andre Roberts, the former Iowa school superintendent arrested in September as an illegal immigrant in possession of weapons, after Prince George’s County concealed key eligibility information, including whether he claimed to be a U.S. citizen when he registered to vote.
The American Accountability Foundation and Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections filed a National Voter Registration Act request this week, insisting that the county release Roberts’s complete voter registration file. The groups said the county violated federal law last month when it redacted his responses to multiple eligibility questions, including the one asking if he is a U.S. citizen, before providing the documents to AAF.
RITE and American Accountability Foundation (AAF) have submitted an NVRA request to Prince George’s County Board of Elections for the voter-registration records of Ian Andre Roberts.
— Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections (RITE) (@Restoring_USA) November 19, 2025
Roberts, a Guyanese national under a final order of removal issued in May 2024, was serving as… pic.twitter.com/M8730sQNto
Roberts, a 54-year-old Guyanese national under a final removal order issued in May 2024, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sept. 26 in Des Moines after he allegedly fled officers, abandoned his car, and hid in thick brush. Officials said Roberts was found with a loaded handgun, a fixed-blade hunting knife, and $3,000 in cash. He was later charged with being an illegal immigrant in possession of firearms.
The Department of Homeland Security revealed that Roberts has a decadeslong record of criminal conduct dating back to the 1990s, including a 1996 narcotics arrest in New York, a 2012 reckless driving conviction in Maryland, multiple weapons charges in 2020, and a 2022 conviction in Pennsylvania for unlawfully possessing a loaded firearm. His immigration history includes four rejected green card applications, repeated visa entries, and a removal order issued last year after he failed to appear before an immigration judge.
Despite his history, Roberts held senior education jobs in Maryland before becoming superintendent of Iowa’s largest school district. These positions required background checks and license reviews that somehow failed to pick up on his criminal record and lack of legal documentation.
Records obtained by Iowa Public Radio in October revealed that Roberts said he was a U.S. citizen when applying for an Iowa administrator’s license and answered “no” when asked if he had ever been convicted of a crime or was under investigation by law enforcement. He also supplied what were supposed to be college and university transcripts. Iowa officials are now reviewing which credentials Roberts claimed and which, if any, were verified by original documents.
Against that backdrop, AAF and RITE argued that Maryland’s refusal to disclose his citizenship answer on his voter-registration forms is not only improper but unlawful. In a Nov. 20 letter sent to acting Elections Administrator Wendy Honesty-Bey, the groups cited multiple federal court rulings and Section 8 of the NVRA, arguing that states must disclose completed voter-registration applications, including eligibility responses, under the federal statute.
While there is no evidence to show Roberts ever voted in the state, a previous investigation by AAF revealed that Roberts was registered to vote in the state since December 2011. The groups gave Prince George’s County until Dec. 1 to turn over the full records or face litigation.
AAF President Tom Jones told the Washington Examiner that the county’s redactions “appear political” and accused Maryland officials of shielding the information to protect Democratic leadership.
“I think Prince George’s County is potentially working to obstruct access to these records for political reasons,” Jones said. “And I think there’s an argument that it’s a criminal and civil violation of the Maryland Public Information Act.”
Jones said the episode “seems like part of a broader pattern by a governor who wants to run for president, and thinks this is a way to curry favor with a progressive base when he runs for the Democratic nomination in a few years.” Other critics agreed, including Republican state Del. Matt Morgan, who wrote on X last month that Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) and the state board of elections “owe us an investigation.”
Jones previously told Fox 45 News that the Roberts case proves Maryland lacks basic guardrails to prevent noncitizens from being added to the voter rolls.
“There are no safeguards,” he said. “It tells us that, frankly, Governor Wes Moore and Democrats in the state of Maryland are not serious about election integrity.”
In a phone call on Wednesday, a Prince George’s County Board of Elections receptionist told the Washington Examiner that all inquiries about Roberts were being routed to the Maryland State Board of Elections in Annapolis. The receptionist suggested it was unusual, since most questions about individual voters are handled at the county level. Jones said Honesty-Bey told him the same thing — that all Roberts-related inquiries were being forwarded to Annapolis.
Honesty-Bey told the Washington Examiner that her office is reviewing the watchdogs’ request with its attorney and “will provide a response within the timeframe outlined in the complaint.” She did not respond to questions about why Roberts-related calls were being diverted to the state or whether the county expects to comply fully with the NVRA request.
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Roberts remains in federal custody and is expected to face prosecution for the firearms charges in addition to removal proceedings.
A representative for the Maryland Election Board did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s requests for comment.
