Democrats challenge Iowa district court rulings on absentee ballot requests
After two Iowa district court judgments invalidated at least 64,000 absentee ballot request forms in Linn and Woodbury counties, Iowa Democrats are challenging the basis of those decisions.
The Iowa Democratic Party, joined by Democratic Senate and House campaign committees, filed petitions Monday challenging the constitutionality of the Secretary of State’s Office directive telling county auditors not to send registered voters absentee ballot request forms prefilled with their personal information, including their voter identification number. The Democrats also are challenging the secretary’s authority to issue the directive.
If Democrats are successful, the absentee ballot requests returned by tens of thousands of Iowa voters in Linn and Woodbury counties would be validated. A ruling in favor of Democrats effectively would nullify judges’ rulings on challenges brought by the Republican National Committee that by filling in the voter identification number auditors were violating a directive from the Secretary of State’s Office.
The court rulings in Linn and Woodbury counties require the auditors in those counties to inform voters in writing that their absentee ballot requests cannot be honored and tell them they must submit a fresh application if they want to vote by absentee ballot. Voters also have the option of in-person voting Nov. 3.
Read more: https://wcfcourier.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/democrats-challenge-iowa-district-court-rulings-on-absentee-ballot-requests/article_aca34ad2-ad3c-5590-b016-9dee403bf5e3.html