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Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
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Gov. Kim Reynolds signs bills on election recounts, voter citizenship verification
Gov. Kim Reynolds was joined by Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, legislators and county auditors in her office June 2, 2025 as she signed into law two bills from the 2025 legislative session related to Iowa elections. (Photo courtesy the Iowa Secretary of State's office) Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed two bills related to Iowa's election laws Monday, making changes to the state's citizenship verification for voting and election recount processes. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, alongside several county auditors and some of the lawmakers who worked on the bills during the 2025 legislative session, joined Reynolds at the signing. Pate thanked Reynolds and lawmakers for moving the two measures forward in a news release Monday, saying the bills are important steps in 'strengthening and maintaining Iowa's election integrity.' 'These new laws add additional layers of integrity to our robust election procedures, supporting our efforts to balance election integrity and voter participation,' Pate said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX House File 954, signed Monday, was the bill Pate proposed to better allow his office to check the citizenship status and other eligibility requirements of those on Iowa's voter rolls. The bill gives the Secretary of State's office the ability to contract with federal and state agencies, and with private entities, for voter roll verification and maintenance, in addition to setting up a process for setting a voter's registration status as 'unconfirmed' when the state or county officials have received information from a 'reliable source' that the person is not qualified to vote. The measure came up in the wake of Pate's guidance to county auditors shortly before the 2024 general election in November that directed the local elections officials to challenge the ballots of 2,176 voters at the polls. Pate had flagged these individuals as 'potential noncitizens' because they had, within the past 12 years, reported to the Iowa Department of Transportation or another state entity that they were noncitizens, and later registered to vote. A majority of these individuals were naturalized citizens who had the ability to vote, but Pate said the instruction was necessary because his office had been denied access by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements database to verify these people's citizenship status. USCIS later granted the Iowa office access to the database — when Pate said his office confirmed 277 of the 2,176 'potential noncitizen' voters did not have U.S. citizenship. The secretary of state said the new law will prevent similar situations from arising in the future where individuals have their votes contested at the ballot box. The bill gives tools to election officials for voter eligibility verification before Election Day, but also allows registered voters to be challenged over their citizenship status at the polls. A challenged voter would have to present precinct election officials with evidence they are qualified to vote to cast a regular ballot. If the challenge is not withdrawn, they would cast a provisional ballot. The second measure, House File 928, makes changes to Iowa's system for election recounts, including setting new limits on who can request recounts. For statewide and federal races, the election results would have to have a 0.15% difference in votes between candidates for a candidate to request a recount. For state legislative and local races, a difference of 1% or 50 votes would be required. This would stop recounts in future elections similar to those requested in recent elections, like the 2024 election recount for the race between U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Christina Bohannan, that was within 0.2%. The measure would also make changes to election recount boards. Under the previous system, each candidate in a recount designates one person to serve on the board, alongside a third person agreed upon by both candidates. The new law has county auditors lead election recount boards with their staff and hired election workers, adding the requirement that boards must have an equal numbers of workers from each political party. Candidates can choose up to five people to observe the recount process in each county. While some Democrats said this new system could lead to Iowans questioning election integrity because of conflicts of interest with county auditors, Republican supporters argued the change will lead to more uniform and fair election recounts. Rep. Austin Harris, R-Moulton, who led the bill in the House, said in a news release the recount bill was 'one of the most important pieces of legislation we've passed this year.' 'We have seen in years past where the old system was used, abused, and manipulated by campaigns to try to 'fix the outcome' for their preferred candidate,' Harris said in a statement. 'Now we have a system that brings uniformity, consistency, and most importantly, trust to that system.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signs new laws retooling elections. Here's what they'll do:
Iowa's election officials will have new tools to verify voters' citizenship and will be empowered to question voters at the polls about whether they are citizens under a new law signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds. The legislation, House File 954, also bans ranked-choice voting in Iowa and makes it harder for third-party groups such as Libertarians to qualify as a major political party. Reynolds, a Republican, also signed a separate law, House File 928, overhauling Iowa's election recount procedures. She announced the signing of both bills in a Monday, June 2, news release. The legislation comes in response to the chaotic weeks leading up to the 2024 election, when Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, instructed county auditors to challenge the ballots of 2,176 registered voters who he suspected were not citizens based on a faulty list from the Iowa Department of Transportation. The directive resulted in hundreds of registered voters being challenged at the polls and casting provisional ballots, which were only counted if they provided additional proof of citizenship. In March, Pate said an audit of the state's voter registration list confirmed 277 noncitizens on Iowa's voter rolls, including 35 noncitizens who successfully voted in the 2024 election and five more who tried to vote but had their ballots rejected. Pate praised lawmakers and Reynolds for enacting the legislation, saying the laws "add additional layers of integrity to our robust election procedures." "Keeping Iowa elections safe, fair and accurate is a team effort, from the Iowa Legislature and Governor Reynolds to our county auditors and local election officials on the frontlines of our elections," Pate said in a statement. "Today, we saw a clear consensus that upholding consistent, statewide procedures and ensuring voter eligibility are key to balancing participation by all eligible Iowans with election integrity." During legislative debate, Democrats raised concerns about election workers being able to ask voters about their citizenship status at the polls and said Iowa's elections are already secure. Beginning July 1, election workers may challenge a voter at the polls on the basis of their citizenship status under the law, which adds to a section of current law that allows election workers to challenge voters on their age and residency. The law also gives the Secretary of State's Office the ability to contract with "state and federal government agencies and private entities" to check voters' records. And it requires the Iowa Department of Transportation to send the Secretary of State's Office a list of everyone 17 years old and older who has submitted documentation to the DOT saying they are not a citizen. If a registered voter's citizenship status is in question, they must provide documentation affirming they are legally eligible to register and they will be designated as an active registered voter. The law bans ranked choice voting in Iowa at the state, federal and local level, although the voting method is not currently used in any elections in the state. It says any statewide or local government cannot conduct elections using ranked-choice voting, sometimes known as instant runoff voting, which involves ranking each candidate in order of preference and reallocating votes to a voter's second choice if their first choice fails to win a majority. Political parties will now need to receive at least 2% of the vote in three consecutive general elections in order to be recognized as major political parties in Iowa. That's a change from Iowa's previous law, which allowed major party status to be awarded to parties whose presidential or gubernatorial candidates earn 2% of the vote in one general election. Libertarians have objected to efforts to make it more difficult to qualify as a major party in Iowa. Libertarians gained major party status following the 2016 election, lost it following the 2018 election, gained it again following the 2022 election and lost it again after last fall's presidential election. The party's presidential or gubernatorial candidate has never received 2% of the vote in three consecutive general elections. After a razor-thin congressional race in Iowa was decided by just six votes in 2020, Iowa has finally taken steps to overhaul its election recount procedures. The law places county auditors and their staff of election workers in charge of conducting recounts, doing away with 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. Under the new law, candidates can only request recounts in local or state legislative races if the election was decided by 1% or 50 votes, whichever is less. For statewide and federal races, candidates can only request a recount if the election was within 0.15%. Iowa's previous law allowed candidates to request a recount regardless of the winner's margin of victory, but the state would only pay the costs if the results of the election were within one percentage point. Had it been in place last year, the new recount threshold would have prevented Democrat Christina Bohannan from requesting a recount in her 2024 race against U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in southeast Iowa's 1st Congressional District. Miller-Meeks won the race by 798 votes, or 0.2%. The law says the state will pick up the costs of the recount in all cases. The law requires recounts to be conducted using Iowa's vote tabulators. Recounts can only be conducted by hand in extraordinary circumstances, defined to include machine failures, a discrepancy between the results of the election and an initial recount and a number of overvotes that exceeds the margin between the candidates. Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@ or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds signs Iowa election laws on voter citizenship, recounts
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
The showdown for Alabama's top Senate seat
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — The race for Lieutenant Governor is heating up, and candidates are sharing their goals if they win in 2026. Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen was one of the first to announce his candidacy for Lieutenant Governor. Allen said his work on elections, and previously in the legislature, makes him well equipped for the top Senate seat. 'We're extremely proud of our record,' Allen said. 'We have to cut red tape. We have to cut fees and been a business-friendly office. And we expect to take that to the Lieutenant Governor's role as well.' Also vying for that role is Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate. Pate said there's still more he wants to do for the people of Alabama. 'I have such good relationships with so many of the Senators. There's different friends, Republicans and Democrats,' Pate said. 'In fact, I talked with Bobby Singleton yesterday about running for Lieutenant Governor. And I think that they're excited.' Running alongside Pate and Allen is Huntsville native Dr. Nicole Wadsworth. With years of experience in commercial real estate, she said she wants to bring more businesses to Alabama. 'Just to help create an environment where people want to live,' said Dr. Wadsworth. 'The worst thing I hear from companies is people losing talent to other states. We need to learn how to put Alabama first and keep it at home.' Alabama AG Steve Marshall to run for U.S. Senate Republican Party Chairman John Wahl said he also wants to put Alabama first. He's still deciding on whether or not to run. 'If I pull the trigger on this and I run for Lieutenant Governor, I want to be an ambassador for the state of Alabama. I want to be a statesman that fights for our people and raises our profile on the national level,' he said. Dean Odle, a pastor from Opelika, has also announced his run for Lieutenant Governor among others. The primary election is on May 19, while the general election is scheduled for November 3 of next year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Alabama Agriculture and Industries Commissioner running for Lt. Governor
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WHNT) — Alabamians will be seeing a few familiar names under Lieutenant Governor on the ballot in 2026. Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate confirmed he would be running for Lieutenant Governor at an event in Montgomery on Tuesday. ⭐ News 19 is Your Local Election Headquarters! Click here for more election coverage ⭐ Pate said he wants to reduce government regulations and cut taxes. He also said that he wants to work with the legislature to do meaningful work for the state of Alabama. 'I'm such good friends with so many of the senators,' Pate said. 'I've talked to Garlan this morning, Steve Livingston, different ones. I just think I could do some good there, working with them for the next few years.' Current Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth announced on May 21 that he will not be running for Governor or Lt. Governor in 2026 and will be taking time away to focus on his family and will be transitioning into the private sector. 'Serving as Alabama's Lieutenant Governor has been the honor of my lifetime, and in the year-and-a-half remaining in my term, I will continue working night and day to meet the needs, improve the lives, and protect the conservative values of the Alabama citizens I took an oath to serve,' Ainsworth said in his announcement. Other candidates who have also announced their intention to run for Lieutenant Governor include Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen and Huntsville native Nicole Wadsworth. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Democrat Ryan Peterman launches bid for Iowa secretary of state
Ryan Peterman is a Democratic candidate for Iowa secretary of state. (Inset photo provided by Ryan Peterman campaign, background via Canva) Democrat Ryan Peterman announced he will run for Iowa secretary of state in the 2026 election. Peterman, 34, who grew up in Bettendorf. He served 10 years as a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Navy after graduating from the Naval Academy, and later returned to work at the Naval Academy as a honor education officer. He also spent a year working as a legislative fellow for U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-New Hampshire. In a news release announcing his campaign, Peterman said these experiences give him a foundation to serve Iowans in the role 'with integrity, transparency, and nonpartisan professionalism.' If elected, Peterman said he would plan to focus on making voting more accessible for Iowans while protecting election security. Under the Republican trifecta at the Iowa Capitol, GOP lawmakers have passed several measures in recent years that Democrats say limits voters' ability to participate in elections, such as shortening the early voting window and a ban on providing citizens with non-English ballots, voter registration forms and other materials. 'Iowa needs leaders who put country and community before politics' Peterman said. 'Our elections should be free from partisan interference and focused on empowering voters. I'm running for Secretary of State because I believe in making it easier — not harder — for eligible Iowans to legally vote, and I will fight every day to ensure they can trust that their voice will be heard and their ballot will be counted.' The seat is currently held by Republican Paul Pate, who won his fourth reelection to office in 2022 against Democratic challenger Joel Miller, former Linn County auditor. Pate has not yet announced whether he intends to seek another term. Peterman also said he would focus on ensuring Iowans have faith in the state's election systems. The most recent changes to Iowa's voting laws came during the 2025 legislative session through a bill proposed by Pate allowing the Secretary of State's office to contract with federal and state agencies, as well as private entities, for voter roll verification. The legislation also allows voters to be challenged at the polls over their citizenship status, and laid out a process for marking a voter's registration status as 'unconfirmed' if local or state officials have received information the voter may not be legally qualified to vote, primarily in cases involving unconfirmed citizenship status. These changes came following Pate's directive to county auditors ahead of the 2024 general election to challenge the ballots of 2,176 voters identified as 'potential noncitizens' based on state information that the Secretary of State's office was unable to cross-check using a federal database. Pate said in March 277 people on the list were confirmed to not have U.S. citizenship, and 35 noncitizens cast ballots that were counted in the 2024 election. Peterman kicked off his campaign with an event at Grumpy's Saloon in the Village of East Davenport, and plans to hold another campaign launch event in Des Moines Wednesday at Star Bar.
