Governor Kim Reynolds has signed a bill into law that gives Iowa’s secretary of state clear authority to work with federal agencies and hire a private firm to check for non-citizens on Iowa voter registration lists.
Representative Austin Harris, a Republican from Moulton, led debate on the bill in the House. “Just one illegal vote is an attack on all of our votes,” Harris said.
Harris pointed to Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s announcement in March that 277 non-citizens had registered to vote in Iowa in 2024 — and 35 of them cast ballots that were counted. “I’ve seen some organizations try to dismiss the report and say it’s such a small number, who really cares. Well, I can tell the public that I care and I know the House Republican Caucus cares,” Harris said. “In the last few elections between congressional and legislative races, we’ve had four elections that were separated by 35 votes or fewer.”
The law, which goes into effect July 1, will make a number of other election-related changes. Representative Adam Zabner, a Democrat from Iowa City, says it will be hard for third party candidates to run for office. “Folks are fed up with our polarized two-party system and the choices that are available,” Zabner said. “…It makes it harder for an alternative to Democrats or Republicans to reach major party status. It makes it harder for a candidate who’s not aligned with either party to run.”
The governor has signed another bill into law that supporters say will make election recounts uniform and limits when a candidate may seek a recount. The two leading candidates in legislative races would have to be separated by 1% or less. The second place candidates in a statewide or federal race would have to be within 0.15% of the leading candidate to request a recount.