Statewide Iowa — An Iowa Senate committee has added a number of election law changes to a narrow proposal that passed the Iowa HOUSE with unanimous, bipartisan support.
The HOUSE bill aims to ensure mail-in ballots are counted in a consistent manner across the state. Republicans on a SENATE committee voted to phase-out the House proposal and set an Election Day deadline for mail-in ballots in four years. Other proposals from Republicans on the Senate State Government Committee including closing polls on Election Day one hour earlier and requiring signature verification for mail-in ballots. Republican Senator Roby Smith of Davenport is an advocate for those changes.
Smith’s plan includes having graduates of ALL Iowa colleges and universities submit a form when they graduate, indicating whether they intend to move out-of-state — so local election officials can remove their names from Iowa voter lists. Democrats like Senator Pam Jochum of Dubuque accused Republicans of trying to erect new barriers to voting.
The Republican chairman of the HOUSE State Government Committee says he can support SOME but not all of the changes GOP senators are making to the bill.
