An Iowa judge has ruled in favor of the Republican Party and President Trump’s campaign and nullified about 45,000 absentee ballot request forms from Linn County voters.
Linn County Auditor Joel Miller mailed forms that were filled out with the voter’s name and voter ID number. Republicans sued, arguing that violated the Iowa Secretary of State’s order that only blank forms be mailed out. Iowa GOP chairman Jeff Kaufmann called the judge’s ruling “a big victory…for fair elections.”
Miller announced his office will notify affected Linn County voters that the forms they’ve submitted have been invalidated and, by mid-September, he’ll do another mailing of blank absentee ballot request forms to Linn County voters.
The Trump campaign, the Republican National Committee and the Iowa GOP have similar legal action pending against the Johnson and Woodbury County Auditors who also mailed out filled-in forms for requesting absentee ballots.
Iowa Democratic Party chairman Mark Smith said the judge’s ruling “undermines our fundamental right to vote” and he said the party will explore “legal avenues to overturn this ruling.”
The Iowa Secretary of State got legislators’ approval to mail a blank form to every active voter in the state.
County auditors cannot start sending the absentee ballots TO voters until October 5.