Des Moines, Iowa — You will have to present ID before you can vote in Iowa, if a bill that’s on its way to Governor Branstad’s desk is signed into law. The bill also shortens the voting period in the Hawkeye State.
Republican State Senator Roby Smith supported the bill.
The bill shortens the “early” voting window in Iowa from 40 days down to 29. In addition, precinct workers will be required to check a prospective voter’s signature on a driver’s license or voter I-D card to confirm the person is eligible to vote. Smith says the bill’s safeguards will prevent voter fraud.
Republicans are setting aside nearly $700-thousand to implement the new law — partly to provide new voter I-D cards to the estimated 85-thousand eligible Iowa voters who do not have a driver’s license. The final version of the bill cleared the Republican-led Senate Thursday on a 28 to 21 vote. The House took a final vote on the proposal on Monday, with all 56 “yes” votes coming from House Republicans. Democrats universally opposed the measure. Senator Tony Bisignano of Des Moines calls it a “voter suppression bill.”
Bisignano and other Democrats say elderly, disabled and minority Iowans will be confused and discouraged from voting by the election law changes. Governor Branstad is expected to sign the bill into law. He’d like to go even farther and close the polls ON ELECTION DAY an hour earlier. Branstad says Iowa’s 14-hour voting period on Election Day is the longest of any state and results would be known sooner if the polls closed at 8 p.m. The polls for General Elections in Iowa open at 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. and that will not be changed by this bill.
