• Home
  • News
    • Politics & Government
    • Business & Economy
    • Crime / Courts
    • Health / Medicine
  • Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Radio Iowa Poll
  • Affiliates
    • Affiliate Support Page
  • Contact Us
    • Reporters

Radio Iowa

Iowa's Radio News Network

You are here: Home / News / Democrats counter sue over absentee ballot request forms

Democrats counter sue over absentee ballot request forms

August 31, 2020 By O. Kay Henderson

After two judges ruled tens of thousands of absentee ballot request forms from Woodbury and Linn Counties are void, the Iowa Democratic Party is filing a lawsuit seeking to overturn those rulings.

Last week, the Republican Party and the Trump campaign successfully argued in court that the forms violated a state order because voter ID numbers were included and the secretary of state had ordered all forms to be blank.

“The Iowa Democratic Party and our partners are fighting back against these voter suppression tactics,” Iowa Democratic Party chairman Mark Smith said today during an online news conference.

Kay Pence, vice president of the Iowa Alliance for Retired Americans which represents many retired trade union members, also spoke during the news conference. She said the Republicans’ lawsuit seeks to reduce the number of Iowans who vote by mail.

“I just don’t think we need to create more anxiety for voters,” she said, “especially for those of us who have voted mail for years.”

The Democratic committees that support candidates for the U.S. House and Senate are part of the lawsuit as well. Marc Elias, chair of Perkins Cole’s Political Law Group, is an attorney for Democrats on this case.

“It is absolutely outrageous that the secretary of state’s position is that voters who have done everything right, who received an absentee ballot application with information helpful to their application being pre-filled, should now face disenfranchisement in the middle of a pandemic and natural disasters,” Elias said.

The lawsuit challenges the Iowa Secretary of State’s authority to order county auditors to send blank absentee ballot request forms to voters.

“When the political actors in a state fail to protect fundamental constitutional rights like the right to vote, it is ultimately the job of the judges and the courts to step in and make sure voters are protected,” Elias said.

Auditors in Johnson, Linn and Woodbury County sent forms that included voter ID numbers. The GOP lawsuit challenging Johnson County’s mailing will be heard next week. Republicans argue the three county auditors endangered election security by including voter ID numbers on their mailings.

Share this:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Filed Under: News, Politics / Govt Tagged With: Democratic Party, Republican Party

Featured Stories

Testing finds 21 new CWD cases in deer

It may become a crime in Iowa to use fake urine in workplace drug tests

February trending 18 degrees below average temperature

Iowa House Education Committee votes to end tenure at UI, ISU, UNI

Man convicted of two Muscatine County murders dies in prison

TwitterFacebook
Tweets by RadioIowa

Key stretch begins for #9 Iowa

Drake’s Roman Penn lost for the season

Drake’s DeVries named to Naismith watch list

State wrestling opens with limited attendance

Iowa’s Wieskamp is B1G Player of the Week

More Sports

eNews and Updates

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

Archives

Copyright © 2021 ยท Learfield News & Ag, LLC