DES MOINES– Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is celebrating the passage and signing of two important election-related bills. Governor Kim Reynolds officially signed Iowa House Files 928 and 954 into law on June 2.
Iowa House File 928 reinforces and standardizes Iowa’s recount procedures and requires uniformity across recount methods – recounts must now be conducted in all precincts in a race and by using the same recount methods.
Iowa House File 954 further standardizes Iowa election processes by banning ranked-choice voting statewide and strengthening citizenship verification for voter registration. This ensures citizenship and voter eligibility are verified at the time of voter registration rather than at the time of voting.
"I commend the Iowa Legislature and Governor Reynolds for recognizing the importance of these bills in strengthening and maintaining Iowa’s election integrity," said Secretary Pate. "These new laws add additional layers of integrity to our robust election procedures, supporting our efforts to balance election integrity and voter participation."
Secretary Pate joined Governor Reynolds to commemorate her signing of these two pieces of legislation. Senator Ken Rozenboom, Representative Austin Harris, and Representative Jane Bloomingdale also attended, as well as a number of county auditors, including: Adam Wedmore, Cerro Gordo; Karla Weiss, Winnebago; Amanda Waske, Ringgold; Diane Patrick, Boone; Whitney Hein, Jones; Karen Showalter, Black Hawk, and Kerri Tompkins, Scott.
"Keeping Iowa elections safe, fair, and accurate is a team effort, from the Iowa Legislature and Governor Reynolds to our county auditors and local election officials on the frontlines of our elections. Today, we saw a clear consensus that upholding consistent, statewide procedures and ensuring voter eligibility are key to balancing participation by all eligible Iowans with election integrity.”
“I really want to thank everyone, especially Representative Harris, who did a lot of the hard work on this bill. He deserves the credit for this, along with Secretary Pate’s office. We must also recognize our county auditors, like Adam Wedmore, the Cerro Gordo County Auditor and president of the county auditors’ association. He also did a fabulous job advocating for this bill,” added Representative Jane Bloomingdale.
“I just want to say it’s been a real pleasure to work with the secretary of state, the governor, and, of course, Representative Harris on this. I never dreamed I’d be working on election law, but these two pieces of election legislation should put Iowans’ minds at rest. We have elections well known for their integrity, and we are just strengthening that a little more today,” added Senator Ken Rozenboom.
I think the recount legislation we passed this year is one of the most important pieces of legislation we’ve passed this year. We have seen in years past where the old system was used, abused, and manipulated by campaigns to try to ‘fix the outcome’ for their preferred candidate. Now we have a system that brings uniformity, consistency, and most importantly, trust to that system,” added Representative Austin Harris.
A soundbite from Secretary Pate is available for your use here.
A photo from the official signing ceremony is available for your use here.
Pictured: Rep. Bloomingdale, Auditor Wedmore, Auditor Hein, Auditor Tompkins, Auditor Weiss, Rep. Harris, Gov. Reynolds, Sen. Rozenboom, Auditor Waske, Auditor Showalter, Auditor Patrick, Sec. Pate.
