State Sen. Roby Smith agreed with Democrat State Sen. Tony Bisignano about the importance of speaking truth on the floor of the Iowa Senate.
Smith then pointed out Democrat talking points during debate on election bills from the past few years. Democrats continually claimed securing Iowa’s elections would lead to voter suppression.
“We had a voter ID bill that was run in 2017 and we heard it was going to suppress the vote,” Smith said. “I stood at this desk, I ran that bill and it was said in this chamber that we’re going to suppress the vote. Fast forward to 2018 — record turnout for mid-term elections. No suppressing the vote.
“Was that the truth that was spoken that day?”
Smith talked about an election bill he ran in 2018. Again, the criticism from Democrats centered on voter suppression. Again, in June of 2020, another election bill was debated. And, again, Democrats cried voter suppression.
“It’s a common refrain in this chamber — it’s going to suppress the vote,” Smith said. “Let’s fast forward then to November 2020 — record turnout. Didn’t suppress any vote. So, that’s the truth. Election bills do not suppress the vote. We have the facts on our side.”
He promised to keep Bisignano’s words in mind for debate on future election bills.
“If we hear from my good friends on the other side of the aisle, that they might say its suppressing the vote, we now know what the truth is,” Smith said. “And the truth is when we run election bills, we get record turnout.”
