Now that both presidential candidates have announced their running mates the election cycle is in full effect. With under 80 days before the presidential election reviewing how Iowa stacks up against the potential swing states in the 2024 election while comparing elections laws is an interesting process.
All states across the country have absentee voting. 14 states require an approved excuse for absentee voting to receive, while Iowa and other states do not require a voter to provide an excuse. In 2021 Iowa House Republicans passed an election bill that strengthened the integrity and security of absentee voting in Iowa. In Iowa a voter can request an absentee ballot to be delivered via USPS to their home address to complete and return. In Iowa voters can request an absentee ballot either by mail or in person at their county auditor’s office 70 days before the election until 5:00pm 15 days before the election.
One area election laws were changed to ensure uniformity throughout Iowa was that only absentee ballots received by the county auditor before 8pm on election night will be counted.
As an increasing number of Iowans are voting by absentee ballots, it is important that counties and the state are ensuring the accuracy and validity of each absentee ballot. Once absentee ballots are mailed, daily reports on absentee ballot requests received, absentee ballots sent, and completed absentee ballots received by all county auditors and the Secretary of State will be published.
In addition to the increased reporting, county auditors now limited to establish only one ballot drop box that is secured and monitored on the county property. These drop boxes are required to be emptied and recorded at least four times a day during the absentee voting period. The drop box must be under constant surveillance. Only a family member, household member, authorized for confined individual, and delivery agents can drop a ballot in a drop box and they are limited to 2 ballots.
One more impactful law passed by House Republicans was clearly defining who is allowed to return a voter’s completed absentee ballot on their behalf. Under current laws to combat ballot harvesting the only individuals authorized to return an absentee ballot for a voter are individuals who live in the same household of the voter, an immediate family member related to the voter (up to the 4th degree of consanguinity), a person authorized in accordance with law for a confined person, and a designated delivery agent. A delivery agent can be a registered voter who is not the voter’s employer, agent of the employer, an officer or agent of the voter’s union, or a person acting as an agent of a political party. Delivery agents are not allowed to return more than 2 absentee ballots in a general election. Delivery agents are able to deliver absentee ballots for voters who are unable to deliver their ballot due to blindness or another physical disability. Below is how Iowa compares to other states for to combat ballot harvesting:
Looking at Iowa’s election laws clearly demonstrates that House Republicans have led the way in enacting legislation to protect the security and integrity of the election process while enabling Iowans the fundamental right to vote. In short, we have made it easy to vote but harder to cheat.
