Secretary of State predicts federal election reform bill will pass

Iowa’s Secretary of State predicts the U-S Senate will soon approve an election reform bill that would forward as much as 20-million dollars to Iowa. Secretary of State Chet Culver’s in Washington, D-C for a national conference on the issue.Culver says the money would be used to buy new voting machines and a new statewide, computerized voter registration system, as well pay to train election workers.The election reform bill has cleared the U-S House, and it’s to be debated in the U-S Senate in late January. Culver has been told a compromise between the House and Senate has already been struck, and once the bill’s law, Iowa would receive between 10- and 20-MILLION dollars.Culver says election officials in Iowa do a terrific job, but need federal financial help to buy new machines and a new computer system to handle voter registration.Culver spoke on a panel yesterday at the election reform conference, which was held at Georgetown University.