When the nation was faced with the growing COVID-19 pandemic and concerns were raised over in-person voting for the June primary election, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate (R) exercised emergency power to mail every registered voter in the state an absentee ballot request form.
The result was the biggest percentage of absentee votes cast for an election of any kind, and the biggest turnout for a primary in state history. However, Pate’s actions ruffled some feathers among the Iowa Legislature, and when the 2020 session reconvened they passed a bill to limit the powers of the Chief Election Official. District 19 State Representative Chris Hagenow (R) explains why the chambers felt oversight was necessary in this instance. “The trouble that came from that was that legislators, and initially Republican and Democrat (alike), felt that that was too much authority over our elections to place in one individual’s hands. And so the genesis of that bill was to make sure that there was some check on that authority. And so if the Secretary of State wants to exercise his emergency powers, he needed to come to the legislative council – which is the legislative leadership and a few others – to simply have them say, ‘Yeah, that’s appropriate.’”
Hagenow says the legislation also included provisions to ensure there are enough polling locations around the state, in order to ensure voters don’t have to travel long distances to cast their ballots at crowded sites. Additionally, the Senate added language to the bill that put more strict rules on absentee voter identification. The bill passed both chambers along party lines, and was signed into law by Governor Kim Reynolds. To learn more about this and other topics from the 2020 legislative session, click the links below to listen to the recent two-part Perry Fareway Let’s Talk Dallas County program with Hagenow.
https://www.raccoonvalleyradio.com/2020/06/24/lets-talk-dallas-county-6-24-2020-chris-hagenow-part-one/
https://www.raccoonvalleyradio.com/2020/06/25/lets-talk-dallas-county-6-25-2020-chris-hagenow-part-two/