A Republican official says errors by the state election office wrongly prevented three Iowans from voting in the presidential election last fall. And this evening, state lawmakers are calling for an investigation. Ken Kline, the Cerro Gordo County auditor, reports that three ex-felons or non-felons were mistakenly included on a list of felons who are ineligible to vote in Iowa but the problem wasn’t caught until after it was too late to include their ballots in the official tally. In a letter on Tuesday to Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz, a Republican, Kline expressed dismay and suggested that something be done to ensure that other names werent incorrectly included on the list of 46,000 felons. “I enjoy my job, and take pride in serving as county auditor in Iowa, where we have a strong history of fair and impartial elections,” Kline wrote in the letter. “One thing I dislike intensely is when I have to send a letter to a voter, notifying the voter his or her ballot was rejected. To have rejected a ballot based on an error or incorrect information is troubling, to say the least.”
In response, secretary of state spokesman Chance McElhaney said in a statement tonight that the office “is merely given information generated by 99 different clerks of court. Concerns about the accuracy of the list should be addressed to the state court administrator and the 99 clerks of court, not the Secretary of State’s Office.”
In an interview with The Des Moines Register this evening, Kline said its unclear if the people in Iowa’s other 98 counties were wrongly denied their right to vote because of inaccuracies on the felons list. “But I consider it a serious issue,” Kline said.
Full Article: Updated: Mistakes wrongly barred 3 Iowans from voting, GOP official says | The Des Moines Register | desmoinesregister.com.