Iowa is known for feeding the country, not distorting democracy. Common-sense reforms passed during this legislative session in Des Moines will keep it that way. Crafted in response to feedback from constituents across Iowa, legislators and Gov. Kim Reynolds made it easy to vote and hard to cheat.
Of course, less than 24 hours later, a liberal advocacy group, the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa, or LULAC, filed a lawsuit seeking to prohibit Iowa’s attorney general and secretary of state from enforcing or implementing the reforms.
So, what are some of the common-sense measures that LULAC takes issue with? For starters, the new Iowa law affirms that Iowans must cast their votes on or before Election Day by requiring that officials receive all ballots by election night. The new law prohibits special interest groups from engaging in ballot harvesting, a practice where partisan groups physically go to the homes, long-term care facilities, and more, of voters, collect their ballots, and then transport those ballots to the election office. Iowa is simply protecting its reputation for harvesting crops, not ballots.
