Bill changing Iowa election recount process heads to governor's desk
Voters cast their ballots in the 2024 general election at Plymouth United Church of Christ polling location in Des Moines on Election Day, Nov. 5, 2024. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
The Iowa Senate sent legislation to the governor Monday making changes to Iowa's election recount process.
House File 928, passed 31-14, would change who can request a recount for an election in Iowa. In races for local offices and the Iowa Legislature, there would need to be difference of 1% or 50 votes between the candidates — whichever is less — for a candidate to request a recount. For statewide and federal races, the bill would require a 0.15% difference.
Election recount boards would change from their current make-up of a person designated by each candidate, alongside one other individual agreed upon by both candidates. The new system would have county auditors lead the board with their staff and hired election workers, with a requirement that boards must have equal numbers of workers from each political party. Candidates could also be able to choose up to five people to observe the recount in each county.
Sen. Ken Rozenboom, R-Oskaloosa, said these changes put Iowa's recount process in line with other states, and addresses existing problems with potential conflicts of interest that exist in allowing campaigns to oversee the recount process.
'There's no uniformity, no reliability or enforcement,' Rozenboom said. 'That creates distrust the system.'
However, Sen. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, said the proposed changes to the recount system — allowing auditors to oversee election recounts — could create conflicts of interest if they are the incumbent party involved in an election recount. Rozenboom countered that county auditors would still be bound by the law to fairly administer recounts.
'I understand the nature of your question, but in the unlikely event that that happens, there's still their responsibility to do that,' Rozenboom said. 'And please note that there will be observers to watch that process.'
But Winckler said the current recount process serves Iowa well, without bringing up potential conflicts of interest posed by the county auditor — who is a partisan elected official — and their staff overseeing the process.
Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, D-West Des Moines, said in the recount elections she has been involved in, 'balance' in the process was not an issue as both candidates got to appoint a member of the recount board, and saying that candidates 'come out with much greater respect for the process' for ensuring fair election results.
'What we will have if we shift through this new model is candidates feeling very suspicious, very uncertain and not knowing if they can trust what they're hearing as part of this process — and not feeling represented in it,' Trone Garriott said. 'Just because someone is a member of the same political party does not ensure that that person has that candidate's best interest at heart, or is qualified to be the representative, or is qualified to be part of this process.'
Rozenboom argued that these criticisms do not acknowledge that partisan county auditors are already overseeing elections.
'If we trust them to conduct the election in the first place, it seems reasonable to me that we would trust them to conduct a recount,' Rozenboom said.
The bill would also implement an earlier deadline for requesting a recount, requiring requests be submitted by the end of the day of the second Wednesday after an election. The current deadline is the second Friday after an election. Recounts would be requested through the Secretary of State's office for legislative, statewide and federal races, a change from the current system where campaigns make requests to each county auditor.
Another portion of the bill requires recounts to be conducted using vote tabulators, whereas current law allows hand-counting in some areas.
Rozenboom said the measure will bring 'consistency, reliability, fairness, uniformity and enforcement' to the state's election recounts.
'Election law is maybe the most important legislation that we can pass in this state, because election law, fair elections, are the absolute bedrock of our system of government,' Rozenboom said. 'This legislation will correct flaws in our current system.'
The bill, approved by the House in late March, now goes to Gov. Kim Reynolds.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Hill
30 minutes ago
- The Hill
Schumer says 16 Republicans have ‘discomfort' with green tax credit rollbacks
Democrats are working to convince some 16 of their Republican colleagues to oppose the GOP's policy bill because of its rollbacks to climate-friendly tax credits, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Thursday. 'We have a group…of seven or eight Democrats who are talking to their Republican colleagues…and we're getting some vibes that people realize this bill went too far and we're hoping they can all go together to [Majority Leader] John Thune and to [Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike] Crapo and say 'change it. We can't be for it the way it is,' Schumer told reporters Wednesday. 'We have a list of 16 Republican senators who have shown some discomfort with this and that's the main group we're focused on,' he added. The version of the 'big, beautiful bill' passed by Republicans makes major cuts to tax credits for climate-friendly energy sources, making it so that any project that is not already under construction within 60 days of the law's enactment is ineligible for the tax credits. This provision, among others, is expected to bar many projects from eligibility and could ultimately lead to less low-carbon energy development. At least some Republicans have publicly expressed skepticism of a rapid end to the credits with Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), John Curtis (R-Utah) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) warning against a 'full scale' repeal. However, House Republicans who have championed the cuts are pushing for them to stay in their current form, with members of the Freedom Caucus board recently saying it will 'not accept' changes that water down the cuts.


Boston Globe
39 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Female athletes appeal landmark NCAA settlement, saying it violates federal antidiscrimination law
Ashlyn Hare, one of the attorneys representing the athletes, said in a statement that the settlement violates Title IX, the federal law that bans sex-based discrimination in education. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'We support a settlement of the case, but not an inaccurate one that violates federal law. The calculation of past damages is based on an error that ignores Title IX and deprives female athletes of $1.1 billion,' Hare said. 'Paying out the money as proposed would be a massive error that would cause irreparable harm to women's sports.' Advertisement The House settlement figures to financially benefit football and basketball stars at the biggest schools, who are likely to receive a big chunk of the $20.5 million per year that colleges are permitted to share with athletes over the next year. Some athletes in other sports that don't make money for their schools could lose their partial scholarships or see their roster spots cut. Advertisement 'This is a football and basketball damages settlement with no real benefit to female athletes,' Hare said. 'Congress has expressly rejected efforts to exempt revenue-generating sports like football and basketball from Title IX's antidiscrimination mandate. The NCAA agreed with us. Our argument on appeal is the exact same argument the conferences and NCAA made prior to settling the case.' The appeal was filed by the law firm Hutchinson Black and Cook of Boulder, Colorado, and was first reported by Front Office Sports. It would be heard by the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.


Axios
42 minutes ago
- Axios
The winners of the Congressional Baseball Game since 1962
Congressional Democrats will seek to stop Republicans' four-year winning streak at the annual Congressional Baseball Game on Wednesday, with the first pitch at 7pm ET. Why it matters: The games started in the early 1900s, with lawmakers sometimes competing against members of the press. It's been an annual red vs. blue contest since 1962. Since then, Republicans have won 38 times and Democrats have won 23 times, according to stats kept by the House. There has been one tie, and the game was cancelled in 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns.