Iowa Secretary of State will mail ballot request forms to all voters before fall election

Secretary of State Paul Pate will mail an absentee ballot request form to all active registered Iowa voters before the November general election after a panel of Iowa lawmakers granted his request to do so on Friday.

Before Iowa's June 2 primary, Pate, a Republican, mailed absentee ballot request forms to the state's roughly 2 million registered voters. His actions were credited with contributing to Iowa's record turnout in that election, when more than 531,000 Iowans cast ballots in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Nearly 80% of Iowans who voted in the primary did so by mail.

But last month, the Republican-controlled Iowa Legislature passed a law preventing him from doing the same thing in November without first getting approval from the Legislative Council.

When the council, a 24-member body of legislative leaders that is controlled by Republicans, met Friday, it voted unanimously to grant Pate's request.

“I want Iowa voters and poll workers to be safe during this pandemic while we conduct a clean, fair and secure election. After consulting with all 99 county auditors, I believe the best way to accomplish that goal is by mailing an absentee ballot request form to every active registered voter in the state," Pate said in a statement, noting that in-person voting will still be available.

Before approving the secretary of state's request, Republicans on the Legislative Council voted down Democratic proposals to extend the early voting period from 29 days to 40 days and to allow county auditors to mail absentee ballot request forms with each voter's information already filled in.

Senate Majority Leader Jack Whitver, R-Ankeny, said county auditors who send out pre-filled ballot request forms would be undermining the state's voter ID law. Linn and Johnson counties have announced plans to do so.

"With this order, it is clear any auditor who sends out a pre-populated form with the voter ID PIN is ignoring the law. Auditors and voters should be on notice that this action shows clear disregard for the law and could easily lead to election fraud," Whitver said.

Rep. Sharon Steckman, D-Mason City, said officials should be trying to make it easier for people to request their ballots.

"County auditors are elected to make sure their constituents can vote without confusion. They are only sending information to the person that it belongs to," she said.

Until Thursday, Pate had been silent about whether he intended to send out a statewide mailing for the November election, leading some of Iowa's largest counties to act on their own. Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz, a Democrat who is president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors, said Friday she believes 18 counties intended to mail ballot request forms to their residents prior to Pate's plans being announced. Those counties include some of the state's largest, like Polk, Linn, Johnson, Black Hawk and Scott.

Some, like Johnson County Auditor Travis Weipert, have already spent money to do so. Weipert said he has spent $14,000 on a set of mailers that he planned to send out next week.

"I think it’s a wonderful thing what he’s doing, but he’s also late to the party," Weipert, a Democrat, said of Pate.

Iowans already have the ability to request a mail-in ballot individually, but the coronavirus pandemic has raised the public's awareness of the option to vote early by mail.

"I think it’s really, really important that the state of Iowa remember why we’re doing this," Moritz said. "It’s called COVID and it is to ensure and make sure that we have a safe and healthy election."

More:Two groups sue over new absentee-ballot restriction facing Iowa county auditors

Pate plans to mail blank request forms to voters. County auditors' ability to process those requests and send ballots to voters will be complicated by another law passed this year that prevents them from using the state's voter registration database to fill in any missing information on submitted request forms. That information could include a missing name, address, driver's license number or voter PIN.

On Tuesday, the League of United Latin American Citizens and Majority Forward, a Democratic-aligned nonprofit, sued Pate over the law, which requires the county auditor's office to contact the voter by telephone, email or physical mail rather than filling in the blanks using the database.

"I don’t understand the analogy that they make that we can’t trust our I-Voters system," Moritz said, referring to the voter registration database. "It’s their state system. ... If they don’t think we can have faith and trust in the state system then I think we have a problem just in general."

Auditors in Linn and Johnson counties, the state's second- and fourth-largest by population, have already announced plans to mail absentee ballot request forms to all voters that fill in the voter's information as it appears in the database.

Pate's request to the Legislative Council on Friday states that "county auditors shall distribute only the blank official state of Iowa absentee ballot request form."

Linn County Auditor Joel Miller, a Democrat, called it "absurd" for Pate to tell him and other county auditors how to send out ballot request forms to voters.

"What is the harm of voters in Linn County receiving an (absentee ballot request form) from their county auditor and one from the Secretary? None. And that exact scenario occurred prior to the June 2nd primary," Miller wrote on his blog.

Miller said in an interview that he still intends to mail out pre-filled ballot request forms to all Linn County voters beginning on Monday.

Weipert said he's consulting with attorneys and whether he sends out the pre-filled forms will depend on the legal advice he receives. But he's frustrated.

"How can you tell me that I can’t when my job is to promote voting and I’m promoting voting and I’ve already spent $14,000?" he said.

Weipert said the timing of the statewide mailing will also be important since county auditors will need time to ramp up staff to process all the requests. He said he'd like to see the state send out its mailing within the next week or two to give auditors more lead time to respond before the election.

Staff with the secretary of state's office did not give a timeline for when they would send the statewide mailing, but said they would get to work on it right away.

"When we do have a timeline set up we’ll be very public about that and promote that so that voters can get their registration updated if necessary," said Molly Widen, the secretary of state's legal counsel.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

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