Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism (https://caucus.iowawatch.org/tag/iowa-secretary-of-state/)
Iowa is out of step with other states when it comes to a basic right — the right to vote in our elections, columnist Randy Evans writes in this opinion piece. For most of its history, Iowa has prohibited felons from voting.
While some first-time Iowa voters say they are well-informed about the 2018 gubernatorial race of Republican incumbent Kim Reynolds, Democrat Fred Hubbell and Libertarian Jake Porter, others getting ready to vote for the first time said they still were doing research.
Politicians and voting rights advocates continue to clash over whether photo ID and other voting requirements are needed to prevent voter fraud, but a News21 analysis and recent court rulings show little evidence that such fraud is widespread.
Recent data on Iowa’s registered voters revealed shifts among their party affiliations in the months before, during and following the state’s 2008, 2012 and 2016 presidential precinct caucuses. Taking a closer look at in those caucuses, IowaWatch discovered intriguing trends. Do you have the knowledge to determine some of these changes?
One of every three Iowans – 37 percent – voted a straight ticket for the candidates of one political party in the 2014 general election, statistics the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office compiled for the first time revealed.
One vote can determine an election, Republicans intent on fighting voter fraud say consistently. That thought drives a controversial investigation ordered by Secretary of State Matt Schultz and carried out by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to find fraudulent voting in Iowa. “We have evidence that people have gone to the polls and voted when they weren’t supposed to,” Schultz said. “There are several Senate seats that were decided by 20 votes or less.”
The actual number from the 2012 and 2010 elections is two, an IowaWatch review of the state’s voting results shows. In 2012, Senate District 28 was decided by just 17 votes, with Republican Michael Breitbach edging out Democrat John Beard.