Proposal would require ID for Iowa voters

Iowa voters would be required to present identification at the voting booth under a plan unveiled Thursday by Secretary of State Paul Pate.

The proposal by the state's chief election official, which will be considered in the 2017 Iowa Legislature's session, is aimed at ensuring the integrity of Iowa's elections, Pate said. However, Democratic legislators and civil libertarians promised a fight over the issue, raising concerns that new rules could suppress voter turnout.

Pate's plan would require all voters to present an ID, which could include an Iowa driver's license, passport, or military ID card for all who have them, and issuing a new free ID to all existing active voters. College IDs would not be accepted. Signatures would be verified at polling sites.

“I want to make it easy to vote, but hard to cheat," Pate told reporters at an Iowa Capitol news conference. "If you don’t have an ID, we will send you a new voter registration card to use at the polls. This bill streamlines the system to make checking in easier and quicker. It will reduce waiting times at the polls, ensure every eligible Iowan is able to cast a ballot, and ensures their ballot will count.”

The plan also would institute electronic poll books at every Iowa precinct to replace paper poll books, and would require an ID number for voting by absentee ballot. The legislation would also establish post-election audits to ensure public confidence with the electoral process. Pate estimated the start-up costs at about $1 million, and he said the changes could be implemented in the 2018 or 2020 election cycles.

Voters would scan their state-issued ID or voter registration card upon checking in at their polling place. Some level of electronic poll books is now in place in about 72 of Iowa's 99 counties, Pate said.

State Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, who chaired the Senate State Government Committee last session, issued a statement contending Pate's plan will disenfranchise older Iowans, younger Iowans and people of color.

“Senate Democrats have worked with Republican legislators and county auditors over the years to increase voter participation and election integrity in our state. The proposals today from Secretary Pate turn back the clock by making election policy a partisan issue," Danielson said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa has concerns about Pate's plan, including questions regarding how poll workers could verify signatures, said Daniel Zeno, ACLU-Iowa's legislative counsel.

"We are against voter ID laws," Zeno said. ACLU officials said one of their worries is that people will be required to go through extra time and effort simply to exercise their constitutionally assured right to vote.

Iowa Democratic Party officials noted Thursday that Pate made several public statements last fall in which he praised the integrity of Iowa's election process. This included assurances by Pate on Oct. 17 that Iowa's elections were not rigged. Pate acknowledged those statements when queried by reporters Thursday, but he said Iowa officials should always be striving to improve the election process.

Kevin Hall, a spokesman for the Iowa secretary of state's office, said Pate's proposed legislation is about protecting the integrity of the elections moving forward, while continuing to make it easy for Iowans to vote.

"We do know there are numerous instances of Election Day registrations this year where the mailings from the county auditors are bouncing back. We don’t know yet if that’s fraud or human error or a combination of the two. The system we want to put in place reduces human error and protects integrity by upgrading technology," Hall said.

Pate's proposed legislation also includes:

Creating a deadline for proxies to return collected voter registration forms and absentee ballots to the county auditor’s office.

Setting the first date to request absentee ballots at 120 days prior to an election.

Ensuring uniform, ongoing training for election staff and poll workers.

Requiring that county auditors certify their compliance to all state and federal laws and report all suspected instances of election misconduct with the secretary of state.

The plan is expected to receive a warm reception from Republicans, who now control the Iowa House and Senate, as well as the governor's office, for the first time since 1998. Pate said the proposed legislation has been designed to comply with federal civil rights laws and the federal voting rights act.

Gov. Terry Branstad told reporters earlier this week he would support efforts to modernize Iowa's election laws and protect the integrity of the election process.

"Certainly we think making sure that people are valid voters and not voting in more than one state makes sense," the governor said. However, Branstad spokesman Ben Hammes said Thursday the governor would reserve judgment on specific legislation until it is reviewed in its final form.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, said he definitely expects lawmakers to consider voter identification legislation, citing a need to provide confidence in elections. He also noted that polls have shown wide public support for voter ID legislation. A Gallup poll conducted nationally last August found 80 percent support for requiring voters to show photo identification, while a Rasmussen national poll in 2015 found 76 percent support.

But Senate Democratic Leader Robert Hogg, of Cedar Rapids, has been critical of voter identification legislation, saying it could erect government barriers to participating in elections. "We need to invite Iowans into a new era of citizenship and positive service," he said.

A total of 32 states had laws in 2016 that request or require voters to show some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Other states use other methods to verify the identity of voters. Most frequently, other identifying information provided at the polling place, such as a signature, is checked against information on file, officials said.

Officials with the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa contend voter fraud is rare in Iowa. They point out that Pate’s predecessor, Matt Schultz, spent $250,000 and hired an Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent specifically to investigate voter fraud, but the effort had generated only a handful of convictions as of May 2014.

According to the 2016 Perceptions of Electoral Integrity survey conducted by the Electoral Integrity Project, an independent academic project based at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and University of Sydney, Iowa received the second highest score nationally on the Electoral Integrity Index. The only state that ranked higher than Iowa was Vermont.

Iowa House Speaker Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, issued a statement Thursday night regarding Pate's plan: "I appreciate Secretary Pate's proposals to maintain integrity in our election system and ensure that all Iowans are able to exercise their right to vote. I look forward to working with him on this during the upcoming session."