About Paul D. Pate
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has dedicated his life to public service. Having served several terms as Secretary of State, mayor of Cedar Rapids, and as a state legislator, Secretary Pate has continually been guided by three core principles: service, participation, and integrity. Under Secretary Pate’s leadership, Iowa has become a top-ranked state nationally in election administration. Ensuring the safety and security of Iowa’s elections has been a top priority for Secretary Pate and his staff. The state has broken numerous records for voter registration and participation during his tenure.
Secretary Pate successfully instituted Iowa’s online voter registration system and voter ID requirements during his terms. Secretary Pate also established a post-election audit system and greatly enhanced Iowa’s election cybersecurity. Secretary Pate’s layered approach to election integrity includes pre-election equipment testing, bipartisan teams of poll workers, physical and cybersecurity measures, paper ballots, post-election audits, and partnerships at the federal, state, and local levels.
His civic education programs, voting accessibility initiatives, poll worker recruitment efforts, and election cybersecurity efforts have been recognized nationally by National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), the U.S. Election Assistance Commission, and the National/Student Parent Mock Election organization.
The Secretary of State’s Office is the small business portal for the State of Iowa. For seven of the past eight years under Secretary Pate, Iowa has seen a record amount of new business filings. Secretary Pate implemented a Fast Track Filing system that greatly enhanced the speed and efficiency of the process and delivered Iowans service at the speed of business.
Secretary Pate worked with the Iowa Legislature to enact the Safe at Home program, an initiative aimed at protecting survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, and stalking by keeping their address confidential. More than 2,000 Iowans have participated in Safe at Home since its inception.
Secretary Pate launched the Iowa Businesses Against Trafficking coalition to encourage the Iowans to learn something and do something about human trafficking in our state. Over 400 businesses and organizations joined the coalition within its first month, and the efforts to end human trafficking in Iowa continue to grow. Today, more than 800 Iowa businesses and organizations are members, representing almost every Iowa county and more than 350,000 employees.
Secretary Pate is a dedicated member of the National Association of Secretaries of State, and currently serves as Co-Chair of the Business Services Committee. He previously served as NASS President and served two terms as the Co-Chair of the NASS Elections Committee He also represents NASS on the Council of State Governments.
