Iowa
Ballot Security
What Politicians Say
The state’s top Republicans said that Iowa had no problems during the 2020 election, which set a record for turnout.
But citing the need to guard against the potential for voter fraud, Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed an overhaul of state election laws in 2021 that reduced early in-person voting and added new restrictions to vote by mail.
Ease of Voting
Three years after shortening in-person early voting from 40 days to 29, Republican lawmakers cut it again to 20 days, just slightly below the US average.
The 2021 overhaul also directed that polling sites close an hour earlier than they did in 2020; barred election administrators from sending out mail-in ballot applications unless requested; set up new hurdles for adding satellite voting sites; and removed voters from the active voter list if they failed to vote in a single general election.
Ballot Security
Previously, mail-in ballots were counted if they were postmarked by Election Day and received by the following Monday, which can lead to late-arriving ballots causing delays in counting votes and certifying elections.
Under the 2021 overhaul, they will now be counted only if they are received by the close of polls on Election Day.
Another bill enacted in 2021 ended the practice of “ballot harvesting” by restricting Iowans to returning only ballots from immediate family members and up to two other voters.
How Politicians Responded to the 2020 Election
A staunch ally of Donald Trump, Reynolds said that voter concerns over election fraud needed to be addressed and waited to acknowledge President Joe Biden’s win until after Jan. 6, but otherwise took no action to support overturning the election.
The state was not a party to the Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to intervene, and only US Representative Steve King, who was defeated in a 2020 primary, signed an amicus brief in support of it.
No members of Iowa’s congressional delegation objected to the certification of Biden electors on Jan. 6.