(KIWA Staff Photo)
Statewide Iowa (RI) — The Iowa Republican Party is suing to lift the injunction that has blocked signature verification on Iowa absentee ballots since 2019.
A 2017 Iowa law gave election officials authority to reject absentee ballots if the signature on the return envelope did not match the voter’s signature on file. The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) sued, and a judge ruled the law could be inconsistently enforced.
The Iowa GOP’s lawsuit argues that absentee voting lacks the safeguards required for in-person voting, where voters must show photo ID. The Republican National Committee is backing the lawsuit, and national party chair Joe Gruters says the RNC is leading the effort to ensure Iowa absentee ballots are cast only by the voters who requested them.
A spokesman for the LULAC says signature verification is an unreliable cross-check and the group is considering a legal response to the new lawsuit.
