Iowa

Iowa is changing when candidates can request a recount — and who conducts them | Stephen Gruber-Miller/Des Moines Register

Iowa will tighten the rules for when political candidates can request election recounts and give county auditors and their staff control over the recount process under a bill heading to Gov. Kim Reynolds. One of the biggest changes the bill makes is putting county auditors and their staff of election workers in charge of conducting recounts. That’s a change from Iowa’s current system, which uses a recount board with members appointed by the leading and trailing political candidates, as well as a third agreed-upon member. Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, has been through two recounts following elections for her Senate seat. She said candidates’ ability to name a representative to the recount board helps them trust that someone is representing their interests. Read Article

Iowa House passes bills on voter roll verification, election recounts | Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch

The Iowa House passed two bills making changes to state election laws Tuesday, including a measure introduced by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate on noncitizen voting. House File 954, approved by the House 65-31, contains multiple changes to state election law, including a prohibition on ranked choice voting and increasing the requirement for candidates of a party to receive at least 10% of the general election vote to gain “political party” status. It also has language introduced by Pate ahead of the 2025 legislative session to allow the Secretary of State’s office to contract with federal and state agencies, as well as private entities, for verification and maintenance of the state’s voter rolls. Read Article

Iowa: Trump fraud lawsuit against Register unlikely to succeed, experts say | William Morris/Des Moines Register

Legal experts representing different ends of the political spectrum say the recent lawsuit by President-elect Donald Trump against the Des Moines Register is based on a strained interpretation of Iowa law and is unlikely to find success in court. Trump filed suit Dec. 16 against the Register, its parent company Gannett and longtime Iowa pollster Ann Selzer, alleging violations of the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. The complaint centers on a poll published by the Register in early November that understated Trump’s support, showing Vice President Kamala Harris with a 3-point lead over Trump in Iowa just days before Trump went on to win the state by 13 points. Trump’s suit alleges the poll was fraudulent and an attempt at election interference. The Register has said it stands by its work. Several experts who have reviewed Trump’s petition say his legal theory is a stretch. Read Article

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate puts election changes at top of legislative priorities | Brianne Pfannenstie and Marissa Payne/Des Moines Register

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate will be pushing state legislators to adopt election law changes next year to help standardize recount procedures and better maintain the state’s voter rolls. He said he plans to push legislation that would create consistency across the state in how counties approach election recounts. He also wants to give larger counties bigger recount boards to help manage the workload. Many of those inconsistencies became apparent during a 2020 congressional recount which found Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks ahead by just six votes, Pate said. He’s since tried to promote legislation, but it’s failed to advance through the Republican-controlled Legislature. Read Article

Iowa: Voters were removed from rolls improperly, an election official says | Hannah Fingerhut/Associated Press

Some Iowa voters were improperly removed from registration rolls by county election officials after challenges to their registration status were filed too close to the election, Iowa’s top election official confirmed Wednesday. County auditors may have processed removals stemming from challenges that were filed within 90 days of the election — a designated “quiet period’’ during which only limited changes can be made to voter rolls, said Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate. The secretary of state said his office directed county auditors to contact their attorneys and get the voters put back on the rolls. He said “most, if not all those counties” have done that. Read Article

Iowa: Voters in Warren County reject GOP-appointed auditor who posted about 2020 election doubts | Hannah Fingerhut/Associated Press

A Republican-controlled board in an Iowa county appointed David Whipple, a fellow Republican with no experience running elections and who had questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential contest, as county auditor, leading to outrage among local Democrats. In a special election, voters in Warren County overwhelmingly chose Kimberly Sheets, a Democrat who had served in the auditor’s office, over Whipple, indicating a desire for voters to have a say in the candidate for such an important office and a stand against perceived overreach by local government. Read Article

Iowa: State loses court battle, enabling voters to again receive non-English voting materials | Clark Kauffman/Iowa Capital Dispatch

An Iowa judge has ruled in favor of allowing Iowa counties to offer non-English voting materials to the public. The ruling dissolved a 15-year-old injunction that prevented the provision of non-English ballots, voter-registration forms, and absentee ballot applications. The lawsuit, filed by the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa (LULAC), challenged the state’s application of the English Language Reaffirmation Act to election materials. The judge cited the Voting Rights Act and emphasized that language should not be a barrier to the constitutional right to vote. LULAC welcomed the ruling, highlighting that the issue had been ongoing for over a decade. Read Article

Iowa joins red-wave exodus from multistate compact seeking accuracy of voter lists | Ed Tibbetts/Iowa Capital Dispatch

Iowa is joining a number of other Republican-led states in moving to pull out of a multistate organization that works to improve the accuracy of voter rolls and increase voter registration. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, announced last week he was taking the step to separate from the Electronic Registration Information Center, which has come under fire from some in the right-wing media and former President Donald Trump. In a Twitter post, Pate said he was “disappointed in the direction” the organization has taken and that a “failed vote to amend the membership agreement doesn’t allow each member to do what’s best for their respective state.” Pate’s position appears quite different from what it was a month ago, when he called the organization known as ERIC a “godsend,” according to a National Public Radio report. Pate also defended ERIC in a Twitter post in February. ERIC was founded by seven states in cooperation with the Pew Charitable Trusts in 2012 after a study was published saying that roughly 1 out of 8 voter registrations were no longer valid or were significantly inaccurate – and that at least 51 million eligible U.S. citizens weren’t registered to vote.

Full Article: Iowa joins red-wave exodus from multistate compact seeking accuracy of voter lists – Iowa Capital Dispatch

Iowa: Malfunction in voting machine statewide creates recounts across state | Ethan Stein/KCRG

The Iowa Secretary of State’s office learned multiple counties saw an error with a voting machine on election day, according to an email from our KCRG-TV9 i9 Investigative Team received. The error, which affected less than 1% of ballots in Sioux County, created the recommendation for a recount in multiple counties during a time of increased concern over election security. According to an email from the Secretary of State’s Legal Counsel, a paper jam created a discrepancy between the displayed number of ballots in an election machine and the number of people who voted in a percent. “The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office has learned that some counties are experiencing paper jams when voters are inserting their ballot into the tabulator,” she wrote. “In some instances, this causes the “ballots cast” number on the tabulator to increase by one extra vote, which leads to the appearance that more ballots were cast than voters who signed a Declaration of Eligibility.”

Full Article: Malfunction in voting machine statewide creates recounts across Iowa

Iowa flap raises fears of politicized local election offices | Thomas Beaumont and Anthony Izaguirre/Associated Press

 It had been eight years since a Republican candidate even stepped forward to challenge Democrat Roxanna Moritz as the top elections official in Scott County, Iowa. Running unopposed in 2016 and 2020, Moritz had become, over her four terms as auditor, the top vote-getter ever in this swing-voting county along the Mississippi River, the third most-populous in the state. Moritz’s abrupt resignation last month came after months of tension that degenerated into personal attacks and threats of violence. Her departure and partisan moves since then are signs that an office long viewed as nonpartisan is now fair game in the political fight about trust in the nation’s elections. “We took a lot of crap in my office, all of us,” Moritz said in an interview, describing angry, sometimes threatening calls from the public accusing her of fixing the 2020 election. “It was all partisan intimidation.” Republicans who control the Scott County Board of Supervisors said politics played no part in their criticism of Moritz’s handing of a county finance matter last year that led to calls from voters for her resignation. She is accused of falsifying working hours for poll workers to justify paying them more before the June 2020 primary when the coronavirus pandemic made it difficult to recruit help. The state auditor, Democrat Rob Sand, is investigating. But the issue festered with a number of Republican voters in Scott County who were upset with the outcome of the presidential election nationally, even though Republican Donald Trump handily won Iowa over Democrat Joe Biden in his bid for a second term.

Full Article: Iowa flap raises fears of politicized local election offices

Iowa Republicans pass new absentee ballot restrictions | David Pitt and Anthony Izaguirre/Associated Press

Iowa Republicans have approved strict limits on who can assist voters in delivering ballots in a surprise change to state election law hours before adjourning the legislative session. Legislators approved the restrictions in a party-line vote late Wednesday, just weeks after Iowa became one of the first Republican-run states to extensively rewrite election rules to tighten other aspects of voting, including when ballots can be turned in and how voter rolls are maintained. Republicans said the changes would enhance the security of voting, though have acknowledged that voting fraud is rare in Iowa and the last election had almost no problems. More than 1 million Iowans voted by absentee ballot in November, a record attributed in part to the pandemic and efforts by election officials to encourage voters to cast ballots at home. Officials have not released data on how often people other than voters return ballots in Iowa, and supporters of the new restriction didn’t offer examples of practices that have led to fraud.

Full Article: Iowa Republicans pass new absentee ballot restrictions – ABC News

Iowa Democrat Rita Hart, claiming ‘toxic campaign of political disinformation,’ withdraws election challenge in Iowa’s 2nd District | Brianne Pfannenstiel/Des Moines Register

Iowa Democrat Rita Hart is withdrawing her challenge to U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks’ election in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District following what she claimed was a toxic disinformation campaign, she announced Wednesday. The move puts an end to a bitter partisan fight that has rippled across the country and that threatened to drag on through the summer. The sudden reversal also takes pressure off moderate and vulnerable Democrats who have appeared to grow increasingly uncomfortable with the possibility of voting to overturn a state-certified election. But even as she ended her official challenge, Hart made clear Wednesday that she stands by her claims. “Despite our best efforts to have every vote counted, the reality is that the toxic campaign of political disinformation to attack this constitutional review of the closest congressional contest in 100 years has effectively silenced the voices of Iowans,” Hart said in a statement announcing the decision. “It is a stain on our democracy that the truth has not prevailed and my hope for the future is a return to decency and civility.” Miller-Meeks, who has been seated in Congress provisionally since January, issued a statement Wednesday thanking Hart for the decision. “I know how extremely difficult it is to lose an election, but for the people to have faith and confidence in the election system and Iowa laws, it was gracious of her to concede at this time,” she said. “I look forward to continuing to work to represent the people of Iowa’s Second District.”

Full Article: Iowa’s 2nd District: Democrat Rita Hart drops her U.S. House challenge

Iowa Governor signs law shortening early voting, hours on Election Day | Stephen Gruber-Miller/Des Moines Register

Four months after Iowans voted in record numbers, Gov. Kim Reynolds has signed legislation cutting the state’s early voting period and closing the polls an hour earlier on Election Day. The Iowa Legislature approved the measure and sent it to Reynolds’ desk late last month. Every Republican present for debate in the House and Senate voted for the legislation. Every Democrat voted against it. Reynolds, a Republican, signed the law Tuesday. Iowa is among a national wave of Republican-led states whose leaders have expressed concerns about the integrity of the 2020 elections, taking the lead from former President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed the election was stolen from him. States such as Florida and Georgia have undertaken high-profile efforts to limit absentee voting after the practice surged in 2020. While there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Iowa or nationally, Republicans have described the state’s legislation as an election integrity measure and said it will bring uniformity across Iowa’s 99 counties. Democrats say the law will suppress votes and does nothing to improve election security. 

Full Article: Gov. Reynolds signs law shortening early voting, hours on Election Day

Iowa Republicans Approve Fast-Track Dramatic Election Bill | David Pitt/Associated Press

Iowa House Republicans cast the final vote needed Wednesday to send a bill to the governor that sharply limits early voting in the state, months after a general election overseen by a Republican secretary of state resulted in record turnout and overwhelming victories by GOP candidates. The bill passed with only Republican votes just a day after it similarly passed the Senate. Supporters of the legislation cited fraud concerns as the reason early voting must be reined in. However, like in many other Republican-led states where similar steps are being considered, there historically haven’t been widespread concerns about irregularities in the election system. “When we go back home and talk to people in the gas stations, at the grocery stores and at the hardware stores there is no disputing there are tens of thousands of Iowans that tell this Republican caucus every single week when we go home we emphatically support this bill, we want this bill, we think this bill is necessary and we support it,” said Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, who managed the bill in the House. Democrats who are outnumbered in both chambers were left aghast but in no position to stop the changes. Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump, has indicated she’d consider them. “Last fall we had elections overseen by a Republican secretary of state in which Republicans gained seats in the Iowa House and the U.S. House, so if there is any significant voter fraud in this state then two things are true,” Democratic Sen. Herman Quirmbach of Ames said. “It’s your fault, and second, it raises questions of the legitimacy of your own elections.”

Full Article: Iowa Republicans Approve Fast-Track Dramatic Election Bill | Political News | US News

Iowa bill shortening early voting period heading toward passage this week | Stephen Gruber-Miller/Des Moines Register

Iowa lawmakers spent an hour Monday night listening to members of the public criticize legislation to shorten the state’s early voting period. But the public comments are unlikely to slow the measure down. It is expected to pass the state House and Senate this week. Opponents of the legislation outnumbered supporters at an hourlong public hearing in the House Monday night. Hundreds of people also submitted comments about the legislation online, the vast majority of which were opposed. Some speakers said they were concerned that the legislation would make it harder for elderly and disabled Iowans to vote. Others praised the bill, which they said would increase the integrity and uniformity of Iowa elections. Companion bills in the House and Senate, House File 590 and Senate File 413, would shorten Iowa’s early voting period by 11 days, taking it from 29 days to 18. The legislation would also forbid county auditors from mailing absentee ballot request forms to voters or set  up satellite voting sites unless petitioned. And the bills would create new criminal charges for county auditors who disobey state rules.

Full Article: Iowans weigh in on bill, headed for quick passage, shortening early voting period

Iowa: It might just be game over for the Iowa caucuses | David Siders and Elena Schneider/Politico

The siege of Iowa and New Hampshire has begun. The two states with privileged places on the presidential primary calendar are finding their roles more threatened than ever before — most recently in the form of a bill introduced in Nevada this week to move that state’s nominating contest to the front of the line in 2024. On its own, the Nevada encroachment would mean little. For years, Iowa and New Hampshire have successfully defended their one-two position from states eager to jump ahead. But the combination of Iowa’s botched 2020 caucus and increasing diversity in the Democratic Party’s ranks has made the whiteness of Iowa and New Hampshire all the more conspicuous, putting the two states on their heels and throwing the 2024 calendar into turmoil. “There’s no reason in the world that those states should go forward so early, because they’re not representative of what 90 percent of the country’s all about,” said former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat who remains influential in party politics. “America looks different than it did 50 years ago, when these traditions were put in place, and the Democratic electorate looks really different.” He added, “It’s no longer palatable, as far as I’m concerned, for those states to take precedence over states like South Carolina and Nevada.”

Full Article:  It might just be game over for the Iowa caucuses – POLITICO

Iowa Democrats pushing ahead on recount reform; Republicans await US House decision | Tom Barton/Quad-City Times

State Democratic lawmakers plan to push forward a bipartisan proposal to reform Iowa’s election recount process in the wake of issues that arose in Iowa’s historically close U.S. House race, which is still being challenged in Congress. Republicans, meanwhile, say they will not wade into the issue until after the U.S. House resolves the disputed outcome in southeast Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. “We’re going to let the process play out in the (U.S.) House” before taking up or passing any proposed election reforms, said Davenport Republican state Sen. Roby Smith, chairman the Iowa Senate State Government Committee responsible for advancing such bills. “We can look at it this year and pass it next year, before the general election in 2022.” Wilton Republican state Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, chairman of the House State Government Committee, echoed Smith. Democrats, however, say they’re hopeful to get a bipartisan proposal passed yet this session that both parties can support. “I’d like us to be able to have a discussion about that and to have some give and take about what should be in that law,” said Iowa City Democrat state Rep. Mary Mascher, ranking member of the House State Government Committee. “We definitely know there should be changes made to our current law. … And I am hopeful that we can get that accomplished this session.”

Full Article: Democrats pushing ahead on Iowa recount reform; Republicans await US House decision | Iowa news | siouxcityjournal.com

Iowa: Miller-Meeks’ attorney looking for rejected ballots in contested U.S. House race | Tom Barton/Quad City Times

More than a month after Democrat Rita Hart identified 22 ballots she claimed were legally cast but not counted, an attorney for Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks is now looking for rejected ballots. Miller-Meeks was provisionally sworn in as a new member of Congress last month after state officials certified the election results. Hart has asked the U.S. House to investigate and overturn the race that state officials say she lost to Miller-Meeks by six votes following a district-wide recount in all 24 counties. Appanoose County Auditor Kelly Howard said an attorney for Miller-Meeks contacted the Appanoose County Auditor’s office Monday requesting copies of all rejected absentee ballot envelopes.

Full Article: UPDATED: Miller-Meeks’ attorney looking for rejected ballots in contested Iowa U.S. House race | Local News | qctimes.com

Iowa: Democrats Weigh Whether State Keeps 1st Presidential Contest | Clay Masters/NPR

While it’s only 2021, a major question facing Democrats this year and next will be what to do about the presidential nominating calendar and whether Iowa, in particular, should retain its prized place at the front of the calendar in 2024. Iowa’s decades-long lock on the nominating process has been under threat since last year’s disastrous caucus, when results were delayed for days due in part to a faulty smartphone app that was supposed to make things easier for precinct captains when they reported results. Ultimately, The Associated Press never declared a winner in the contest because of problems with the vote count, which was administered by the Iowa Democratic Party. Iowa’s voters are also older, more rural and more white than many other states so it’s seen as increasingly out of step with the Democratic mainstream, which increasingly relies on voters of color and young people for its support. President Biden’s newly installed pick to lead the Democratic National Committee, Jaime Harrison of South Carolina, will get a chance to shake up the calendar by appointing members to the party’s rules and bylaws committee. Unlike past presidents, Biden didn’t win in Iowa (he came in fourth, after former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren) and owes no political debt to the complex caucus process. “I think on its merits that the Iowa caucus falls short of the values that we espouse as Democrats,” Julian Castro said. Castro served as housing and urban development secretary under President Barack Obama and ran for president himself in 2020.

Full Article: Democrats Weigh Whether Iowa Keeps 1st Presidential Contest : NPR

Iowa: Miller-Meeks Files Motion To Dismiss Hart’s Election Challenge Before U.S. House | Kate Payne/Iowa Public Radio

Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks filed a motion Thursday asking the U.S. House to dismiss a challenge brought by her opponent, former Democratic state Sen. Rita Hart, who is disputing her six-vote margin in the November election. Miller-Meeks’ legal team argues the contest should be dismissed because Hart didn’t first make her case in state court.Miller-Meeks’ filing Thursday marks the next step in an appeals process before the Committee on House Administration, which will determine whether to dismiss the case or allow it to proceed. Ultimately, following a recommendation the committee, the full House could decide by simple majority vote who should have the seat. Miller-Meeks has labeled Hart’s challenge before the Democratically-controlled chamber as a “political” process, rather than a legal one. In November, state officials certified Miller-Meeks as the winner, following a districtwide recount requested by Hart. The final official tally of votes was 196,964 to 196,958, making the contest the closest federal race in the country during the 2020 cycle. In the motion filed Thursday, Miller-Meeks’ legal team argues that “more than a century” of precedent has established that contestants should exhaust all legal remedies at the state level before appealing to Congress. “Time and time again they have dismissed election contests where the contestant has failed to take advantage of mechanisms under state law to raise these issues,” said Alan Ostergren, an attorney for Miller-Meeks and a former Muscatine County Attorney. “That is by far the most important point that we raise in our motion, that because Rita Hart did not take advantage of the provisions available to her under Iowa law, that…the contest must be dismissed.”

Full Article: Miller-Meeks Files Motion To Dismiss Hart’s Election Challenge Before U.S. House | Iowa Public Radio

Iowa Legislature likely to address election recount inconsistencies | James Q. Lynch/Quad City Times

A still-unresolved U.S. House race in Iowa has prompted election officials to call for legislative action to address the procedures for recounts. Nine weeks after the Nov. 3 election, the outcome of Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District is in the hands of the Democratic-controlled U.S. House. Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks had a 282-vote lead in the 24-county southeast Iowa district on election night. That narrowed to 47 votes after late-arriving mail-in absentee and provisional ballots were counted, and precinct reporting errors were corrected. Iowa election officials on Nov. 30 certified her the winner by just six votes. That prompted Democrat Rita Hart to challenge the outcome, filing a petition asking the U.S. House for a review of all ballots cast in the race. Miller-Meeks has been seated provisionally while the fate of the contest is decided, but the U.S. House could reverse that. County auditors, campaigns and others have raised concerns about the vote recount process not being consistent from one county to another. In some counties, complete hand recounts were conducted in the race. Other counties did machine recounts and some, including Johnson and Scott counties, used a hybrid version. Iowa House State Government Chairman Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton, doesn’t have a solution — yet. However, leaving the outcome of an Iowa election in the hands of the U.S. House is unacceptable to him.

Full Article: Iowa Legislature likely to address election recount inconsistencies | Local News | qctimes.com

Iowa Democrat asks House to review 6-vote race, cites errors | Ryan J. Foley/Associated Press

Democrat Rita Hart asked the U.S. House on Tuesday to investigate and overturn the race that Iowa says she lost by six votes, arguing that 22 ballots were wrongly excluded and others weren’t examined during the recount. In a notice of contest, Hart argued that she would have netted 15 votes and defeated Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks had the 22 ballots been tallied in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. Hart’s filing asks the Democratic-led House to nullify the state-certified results, count the excluded ballots and conduct a uniform hand recount in the district’s 24 counties. She expressed confidence she will be the winner after that process. “Although it is admittedly tempting to close the curtain on the 2020 election cycle, prematurely ending this contest would disenfranchise Iowa voters and award the congressional seat to the candidate who received fewer lawful votes,” Hart lawyer Marc Elias wrote in the 176-page filing. Elias, a veteran of election contests nationwide, called it “an exceptionally unlikely scenario” for a candidate to be able to identify enough specific wrongly-rejected ballots that could change an election’s outcome. But Miller-Meeks and other Republicans accused Hart of seeking to be installed through a partisan power grab after losing a close election involving nearly 400,000 voters.

Full Article: Iowa Democrat asks House to review 6-vote race, cites errors

Iowa Democrats, 10 Months Later, Blame National Party for Caucus Meltdown | Reid J. Epstein/The New York Times

Full Article: 10 Months Later, Iowa Democrats Blame National Party for Caucus Meltdown – The New York Times

Iowa Democrat to challenge 6-vote loss in appeal to US House | Ryan J. Foley/Associated Press

A Democratic congressional candidate who trailed by six votes after a recount said Wednesday she will forgo further legal challenges in Iowa and instead appeal directly to the U.S. House for additional recount proceedings. Rita Hart’s campaign had until Wednesday afternoon to contest the election under Iowa law following Monday’s certification of results in which Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks was declared the winner of the closest House race in decades. An election contest in Iowa would have set in motion the formation of a five-judge panel that would have been required to rule on who won the race by Tuesday, Dec. 8. Hart’s campaign said that quick timeline would not allow enough time to review all the ballots, including thousands of unexamined undervotes and overvotes and a small number of others that were not counted for a variety of reasons. Instead, the campaign said that Hart would file an election contest with the U.S. House under the Federal Contested Elections Act in the coming weeks. Such a filing, due within 30 days after Monday’s certification, will trigger a proceeding in front of the House Committee on Administration that would allow Hart to gather testimony and evidence.

Full Article: Iowa Democrat to challenge 6-vote loss in appeal to US House

Iowa: Scott County OKs congressional race recount results, despite ballot discrepancy | Tom Barton/Quad-City Times

Full Article: Scott County OKs Iowa congressional race recount results, despite ballot discrepancy | Lee-wire | globegazette.com

Iowa: Scott County Auditor: 95% chance Iowa 2nd district US House race headed to court | Tom Barton/Quad City Times

The historically close race for an open southeast Iowa congressional seat could be nearing a single-digit victory as the tally continues to narrow as counties work to complete their recount of votes. Whatever the outcome, the race results are almost certainly headed to a legal challenge. Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks, as of late Wednesday afternoon, had 196,880 votes to Democrat Rita Hart’s 196,845, according to unofficial results from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office. The U.S. House race is the closest federal race in the country, and could become a single-digit race. “The reality that this is going to a (legal) contest, I believe, is, you know, 95% probability. They’re going to be within 50 votes of each other,” Scott County Auditor Roxanna Mortiz said Wednesday. The three-member recount board — which includes one representative from each campaign and one neutral member — in Scott County adjourned Wednesday without addressing a 131-ballot discrepancy between its tabulation of the absentee ballots received by the Scott County Auditor and those included in the county’s certified canvass of election results after election day. Rather than conduct a full machine recount of absentee ballots, the board decided, 2-1, over the objections of the Miller-Meeks’ campaign, to adjourn, leaving the unexplained discrepancy. Michael Bousselot, chief of staff to former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and the Miller-Meeks’ campaign representative, did not sign the recount board report “that has this cloud over it.” The board adjourned after requesting and awaiting legal advice from the Scott County Attorney, which advises the recount board.

Full Article: Scott County Auditor: 95% chance Iowa 2nd district US House race headed to court | News – Local and National | qctimes.com

Iowa: Three counties use voting machines to assist hand recount, defying Secretary of State opinion | Zachary Oren Smith/Iowa City Press-Citizen

Three county recount boards are defying a recent legal opinion from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office and using a machine to aid the recount of ballots in the ultra-close 2nd District congressional race. Recount boards in Scott, Johnson and Clinton counties — the three most populous in the district — justified the move, saying it is necessary to ensure that the recount board’s three members have time to examine ballots the machines couldn’t read for voter intent to see if any were filed for Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks or Democrat Rita Hart but were not tallied accordingly. Assistant Scott County Attorney Robert Cusack offered a legal opinion for his board writing that using a machine to assist the hand count is consistent with the recount board’s charge from Iowa Code to “tabulate all votes” and that a hand recount of all 60,000 votes is not required in light of the confidence in voting machines and the code’s own time constraint. “If the recount board can determine the intent of the voter, then that vote should be counted,” he said.

Full Article: Scott County defies Secretary of State with machine-assisted hand recount

Iowa’s 2nd District: Recounts begin with race still too close to call | Stephen Gruber-Miller/Des Moines Register

At least one county in Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District has begun the recount process in the closest federal race in the country. Republican Mariannette Miller-Meeks currently leads Democrat Rita Hart by just 47 votes out of more than 394,000 cast. Miller-Meeks has claimed victory, but Hart last week requested recounts in all 24 counties in the district. The winner of the race is not likely to be known until the end of the month, when the state certifies its election results. Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz said her county convened a recount board at 8 a.m. Tuesday to begin a machine recount the nearly 90,000 votes cast in the race there. The three-member board is made up of one person chosen by the Hart campaign, one person chosen by the Miller-Meeks campaign and a third person agreed upon by the other two. “This is a great opportunity in democracy because it’s a check and balance to us — to our system and to our equipment,” Moritz said. “And while I have full faith in the process, it allows the public to see that it works.” That “check and balance” will allow voters to know their vote was counted, she said.

Full Afrticle: Iowa’s 2nd District: Recounts begin with race still too close to call