The Iowa Legislature passed a bill that addresses some concerns lawmakers had with elections.

Ahead of the June primary election, the Secretary of State’s Office mailed every eligible Iowa voter a request for an absentee ballot and encouraged voters to vote by mail instead of going to the polls on Election Day due to the COVID-19 pandemic. District 47 State Representative Phil Thompson says the bill sets up a “Legislative Council” to be included in major financial decisions by the Secretary of State’s Office.

“Just a matter of including our branch of government, checks and balances, but ultimately the Legislature is in charge of the purse. We want to make sure that if there’s a big spending decision that we have a little bit of input in that.”  

Thompson notes another concern from lawmakers was making sure that at least ⅔ of the polling locations are open on Election Day. During the primary election, a majority of the polling locations were reduced to less than half to limit the possible exposure of the virus.

“We see that as a risk: One, having really long drives for a lot of our rural voters to consolidating lines at just a few locations, and having lines out the door, and obviously having a lot of people come in and out. (That’s) Not necessarily good practice either in a pandemic.”

Thompson says the last part of the bill requires those who are requesting an absentee ballot show ID to ensure the security and integrity of the election system. He adds, if the bill is signed into law, it would go into effect for the upcoming general election in November.