Iowa lawmakers passed a bill that aims to change some of the aspects of elections.

District 24 Senator Jesse Green says the major changes in the bill reduces the number of early voting days from 29 to 21, closing all polls at 8pm instead of 9 and only allowing yourself or a household member to drop off an absentee ballot. Green says the changes are mainly due to people claiming voter fraud and Republicans being blamed for voter suppression. Green talks about whether or not he believes there has been voter fraud in Iowa.

“In Iowa, I can’t say for sure. But evil exists and there’s bad things that happen. I think there is voter fraud, a little bit of voter fraud that happens in every election. But that’s the beauty of the electoral process. I believe that the Electoral College ensures that the will of the people, as a whole, is realized.”

Greene County Auditor Jane Heun has a concern about the financial impacts of reducing the number of early voting days.

“We’re no longer going to be able to try and run early voting by ourselves in the courthouse. We were really, really super busy last time and we didn’t get anything else done besides voting all day long. I think it’s just going to cost us a lot more, especially if we have the same kind of turnout in that shorter time period. It’s going to be extremely difficult.”

Heun and Deputy Auditor Billie Hoskins were also concerned with the designation of individuals that can submit an absentee ballot because it would alter the current process, which they believe has served them well in the past. Both Heun and Hoskins say they were not contacted by Senator Green or Representative Phil Thompson before they voted on the legislation and in their tenure that has not been voter fraud found in Greene County. The bill is awaiting Governor Kim Reynolds’ signature to become law.