Lawsuit claims new law creates an undue burden on right to vote
By David Pitt
Associated Press
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — An organization representing Iowa’s Hispanic population filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging new restrictions on voting in the state, a day after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the measure into law.
The League of United Latin American Citizens, represented by Washington-based voting rights lawyer Marc Elias, filed the lawsuit in state court in Des Moines.
The measure, which passed with only Republican votes in the Iowa Legislature, includes numerous changes to the state’s voting laws that Democrats and advocacy groups said will make it harder for minority, elderly and disabled voters to cast ballots. Among the changes, the law shortens time for voters to cast mail ballots, reduces days voters can request a ballot and shortens the time polls are open on Election Day.
The lawsuit claims the new law, which Reynolds signed on Monday, creates an undue burden on the fundamental right to vote, citing numerous violations of voters’ constitutional rights.
Republicans in the House and Senate quickly approved the changes over the opposition of all Democratic legislators. Republicans said the rules are needed to guard against voting fraud, though they noted Iowa has no history of election irregularities and that November’s election saw record turnout with no hint of problems in the state.
Reynolds said election integrity must be protected, claiming the law provides election officials with consistent parameters for Election Day, absentee voting and database maintenance.
Spokesmen for Reynolds and Republican legislative leaders did not immediately respond to messages. Also no reply was immediately received from Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller who is named as a defendant with Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate
Pate said in a statement that his the job of election officials is to follow the laws passed by the legislature.
“My office will continue providing resources to help every eligible Iowan be a voter and understand any changes in election law. Our goal has always been to make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat,” he said.
The lawsuit claims none of the provisions of the new law will make elections more secure or increase public confidence in the electoral process. It said the law instead imposes undue and unjustified burdens on minority, elderly and disabled voters and those with chronic health conditions, who work multiple jobs, and who lack access to reliable transportation or consistent mail service. It claims the bill will suppress votes among those people.
“This is because the bill is an exercise in voter suppression, one disguised as a solution for a problem that exists only in the fertile imaginations of its creators,” the lawsuit states. “It is not a response to voter fraud; its sponsors have said as much, and at any rate, there is no evidence of widespread fraud in Iowa’s elections that requires a response (much less as draconian a response as this).”
The lawsuit said the Iowa Legislature gutted the well-functioning absentee voting system that facilitated record turnout in 2020, when more Iowans voted absentee than in person on election day. Iowa’s election system had consistently received bipartisan plaudits for its integrity and security, and that did not change in the run up to the 2020 general election or during its aftermath.
Reynolds justified signing the bill with a statement saying: “All of these additional steps promote more transparency and accountability, giving Iowans even greater confidence to cast their ballot.”
Although there is no evidence of systematic fraud, lawmakers in 43 states are debating about 200 bills that would limit ballot access, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a public policy group. Iowa was one of the first states to enact new laws.
