William Petroski

bpetrosk@dmreg.com

Iowa politicians pledged vigilance in the voting process Monday amid claims by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump that the election is being stolen to generate a victory for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Trump charged on Twitter on Sunday that the Nov. 8 election results are being rigged "at many polling places." He followed that by tweeting Monday morning "of course there is large scale voter fraud happening." Two national polls released Monday showed that some voters are in fact questioning the election process.

But Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate disputed the claims, taking the unusual step Monday of issuing a statement aimed at reassuring public confidence in the election process.

“I take the integrity of our elections very seriously. It is my number one priority. As the state’s Commissioner of Elections, I can assure you Iowa’s elections are not rigged. My pledge to every Iowan is that you will be able to cast your vote and your vote will count," Pate said.

Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald, a Democrat, said he stands fully behind Pate, a Republican.

"Our process is not a Democratic or a Republican process. Our process is an Iowa law process. We are very confident and comfortable with the way things will turn out. Sometimes Democrats win. Sometimes Republicans win. It is up to the voters," Fitzgerald said.

Pate told The Des Moines Register that there has been no computer hacking into Iowa's election system, despite news reports indicating attempts by foreign hackers to break into the voting systems in 20 states in recent months.

"We have been diligent, and we have special staff working 24/7 making sure that things are protected. We are also working with the FBI and Homeland Security," Pate said. "I guarantee you that all votes will be counted, and I will use all the authority that we have to protect it from any bad guys."

In reviewing Trump's allegations, Pate said it's important to separate complaints of media bias in an election campaign from efforts to tamper with the actual voting process. He said he's assuming that Trump has had concerns about alleged irregularities in the past involving voting in the eastern United States, but Pate said he hasn't seen any evidence of that happening in Iowa.

An examination of Iowa's election process shows a good record of protecting the integrity of a voting system that is one of the cleanest in the country and with strong voter participation, Pate said. He noted that Iowa's polls are monitored by bipartisan poll watchers, saying that Iowa's election process is operated by people who have received professional training.

It's also important to recognize that Iowans cast their votes using paper ballots, Pate said, which means someone in Russia sitting in front of a computer can't cast 1,000 votes in Iowa with the click of a mouse.

"We treat all of our ballots like money, and closely protect them and make sure they add up," Pate added, noting that canvasses are conducted after an election to confirm the results with multiple safeguards.

Alleged media bias cited by governor

At his weekly news briefing Monday, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad defended Trump, saying he believes the Republican nominee's campaign is being undermined by a national media that is jumping on Trump's shortcomings while glossing over Clinton's faults. But the governor expressed confidence that state and local officials will safeguard the voting process in Iowa and that efforts will be made to ensure that all Iowa votes are fairly counted.

"At the end of the day, I still have confidence that our election system that is basically controlled by the people in the state and at the local level, that we will have a fair and honest election," Branstad said. The governor is a Republican, and his son, Eric Branstad, is state director of Trump's Iowa campaign.

But Branstad described Clinton's campaign as being "very effective" in working with the national media to distract the public from WikiLeaks revelations from hacked emails that reflect negatively upon the former secretary of state. Branstad said this includes information showing that Clinton was privately reassuring Wall Street officials that she was friendly to them while she was telling a different story publicly.

Iowa Poll: Donald Trump leads Hillary Clinton by 4 points

Andy McGuire, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, issued a statement critical of Trump and Republicans.

"It is a dark day for the Republican Party when their nominee is undermining the integrity of our election system before the election has taken place," McGuire said. "I truly hope, for the sake of this country, that the Republican Party of Iowa and their leaders can find it in their hearts to take a stand against these latest comments of Donald Trump's, which seek to undermine the very foundations of American government."

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Kiron, defended Trump's claim that the electoral system is rigged.

"I do think it's a good idea for the American voters to take a look at the system that we have," King told CNN's Chris Cuomo on "New Day." "There is significant evidence out there that there is voter fraud."

King added, "This is something we'd agree on, Democrats and Republicans. The Constitution is the foundation of our country, but the bedrock that it sits on is legitimate free and fair elections, and the public has to perceive that they are free and fair. And I do think there is concern here that there are voices out there to delegitimize this election."

'No evidence' of widespread voter fraud

Dave Andersen, a political scientist at Iowa State University who has researched voter verification issues, described Trump's allegations of a rigged election as an "absurd claim" that has no justification.

"In order for an election to be rigged, there would have to be widespread, massive voter fraud, and there is absolutely no evidence of it." Andersen said.

While there have been individual instances of voter fraud across the country, they are typically isolated, and the largest instances probably involve dozens of ballots that are not sufficient to sway an election with 120 million people voting, he added.

Andersen suggested that talk of election rigging could be damaging to democracy in the United States.

"One of the tenets of democracy is that you have to be willing to lose. You invite everybody to the polls, you take a vote, and whatever the results are, that is what you go with," Andersen said. "You don’t get to dispute the results. So if you say that it is not fair and that somebody cheated, you have to have evidence."

Several studies have found that impersonation fraud by voters is rare, according to a briefing titled "Debunking the Voter Fraud Myth" released this year by the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law. The statement went on to say that courts also agree that fraud by voters at the polls is "nearly nonexistent."

MORE: Compare how Iowa candidates for U.S. House and Senate stand on the issues

In 2007, the Brennan Center issued a report that concluded it is more likely that an American “will be struck by lightning than that he will impersonate another voter at the polls.”

But a Washington Post survey showed that 54 percent of Republicans say they don't trust the results of the upcoming election, regardless of who wins. The Politico/Morning Consult Poll found that 41 percent of voters say the election could be "stolen" from Trump.

Dale Ho, director of the Voting Rights Project for the American Civil Liberties Union, said there is no evidence to support allegations of widespread election rigging.

"Specious, sweeping allegations of voter fraud and election rigging that are unsubstantiated by any evidence undermine confidence in elections and, in turn, the integrity of the democratic process," Ho said. "This is a problem for people on all sides, because if voters are told repeatedly that there is no point in voting because the election is rigged, that can be a deterrent for people of all ideological stripes, across the political spectrum, not to participate. We think that elections are best served when more, rather than fewer, Americans vote.”