The Republican Party of Iowa has declared victory in two major lawsuits that challenged rogue county auditors in Linn and Woodbury counties for violating the state’s Voter ID law when sending out absentee ballot request forms to voters.
Yesterday, a judge found that the Linn County Auditor broke the law, jeopardizing the fair elections process Iowa has in place for absentee voting. And yesterday, a judge ruled against the Woodbury County Auditor, once again finding that the auditor openly defied Iowa law.
“These victories are a step in the right direction as we work to uphold the integrity of our absentee voting system,” said Jeff Kaufmann, Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. “Iowa Republicans want accessible and fair elections, especially during a pandemic. By openly defying the law, these reckless county auditors executed a blatant attack on our voting system. They alone are responsible for this mess. These rulings will help us begin restoring validity and confidence in the upcoming 2020 election.”
Voters will now have another opportunity to fill out their absentee ballot request forms in compliance with Iowa law — ensuring their vote is counted while still making voting easy and accessible as well as secure. With pre-populated forms, these auditors were opening the door for widespread ballot manipulation and fraud as the mass-sending of these forms could easily result in inactive, deceased, and incorrect voters receiving an absentee ballot request. In these cases, there would be no way to prevent the incorrect submission of these absentee ballot request forms.
