Secretary of State Matt Schultz weathered a storm of questions from Democratic legislators, but his answers did little to satisfy his critics. Schultz sought to convince the Administration and Regulation Appropriations Subcommittee Feb. 14 that his office has learned from an election night computer crash that delayed results, creating what one lawmaker called a “national embarrassment.” “We did run into a blip with election night reporting. That won’t happen again,” Schultz said. Not everyone shared his confidence. Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, questioned the technology fixes Schultz talked about as well as the first-term Republican’s ability to manage the office. “I left today with more questions than I got answers,” Danielson said.
Schultz didn’t shy from questions during the hour-long session. “Quite frankly, I’d like to address the elephant in the room right away,” Schultz said before discussing the use of Help America Vote Act funds to pay for a Division of Criminal Investigation agent to look at possible cases of voter fraud.
Rep. Bruce Hunter, D-Des Moines, wanted to go elephant hunting. He wondered if simply by questioning people about their voting eligibility “you scared them off and they didn’t vote.”
Schultz assured him the investigation didn’t go after people who were eligible to vote. He and Hunter had a brief did to, did not exchange before Chairman Rep. Ralph Watts, R-Adel, told Hunter to move on.
Full Article: Democrats question Secretary of State on election results, voter fraud | TheGazette.