Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a bill that effectively lessens absentee and early voting, even closing polls early. It comes as Republican states prepare to prevent voter fraud and enact election integrity.
During the 2020 elections, circumstances of electoral irregularities in absentee voting and early voting were sharp issues. Many claim these electoral activities allowed manipulation of votes.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill that will control how many absentee votes will be allowed. Another is the limited duration of early voting that was done in several Democrat-controlled states. All these were done in the Presidential elections in 2020, reported the Epoch Times.
Part of the bill is closing the polls early with no extensions in Iowa. This is another measure to lessen electoral fraud as well. These measures are part of a concerted effort to overhaul the voting system to close loopholes used in 2020 elections.
This bill, SF 413, is Republican-sponsored, allowing only twenty days for early voting, not the 29 days before. One more condition that might irk Democrats is that if the mail-in ballot never makes it to election day.
Even if any mail-in ballot came afternoon and postmarked, they won't be allowed under the new rules. Moreover, all voting centers will be closed by 8 p.m. that is early by one hour compared to the last elections.
The prohibition says that county auditors and electoral officials cannot send absentee ballots to unknown people and addresses. In the last election, this was the case and was questioned with unverified signatures and addresses. If anyone violated this rule, they would be fined $10,000.
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Another preventive measure from cheating is that country auditors cannot open a satellite voting site without many local requests. Avoiding more voter fraud by reporting address changes or failure will be removed from the active voters' list. Officials in Iowa, presumably those aligned with Democrat, seem to reject this voting overhaul.
Getting an absentee ballot will not be easy after the governor's approval. It can easily limit ballot harvesting by anyone planning on it. Only the immediate family with ID or house member and the caregiver can give the ballot in person or mail-in.
Reynold, in statement, said that achieving election integrity is important about the bill. The new bill will bolster Iowa's electoral officials with definite rules, not twist it like in some states. It will provide guidelines on election day, absentee votes, data-base, and how to appeal to county auditors.
She added that these are layers for more transparency and accountability, to assure Iowans their vote was tampered with. Many voters in many Democrat-controlled states doubt how the votes were handled during elections.
The bill signed by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds of the Republicans is a victory of electoral reform. However, the Democrats don't want it because it will affect their election practices.
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