Non-citizens are ineligible to vote. Gessler says 35 of those previously voted.

Rather than remove those people from voter rolls himself, Gessler's office says it will transmit the names to county clerks, who are currently authorized to handle verification of voter eligibility.

"For now, we will evaluate the effectiveness of the current challenge provisions, while we develop better procedures for the future," Gessler said in the release.

He says a federal database found 141 non-citizens registered to vote. But those voters could still verify their status.

Gessler's search for non-citizen voters began with a pool of 3,903 people he sent letters to challenging their status. He was criticized by Democrats who say his search is a witch-hunt that risks disenfranchising eligible voters in a battleground state.

Any challenges to the status of voters this year would be conducted by individual county clerks.

(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation with The Associated Press)