Iowa Supreme Court upholds GOP-backed law adding steps to absentee ballot request process

The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a new law making it harder for county auditors to process absentee ballot requests with missing or incomplete information, days before Iowa's deadline to request a ballot for the 2020 election.

The court issued a decision Wednesday evening upholding a Republican-supported law that prevents auditors from using the state's voter registration database to fill in any missing information or correct errors when a voter requests an absentee ballot. The law instead requires the auditor's office to contact the voter by telephone, email or physical mail.

The League of United Latin American Citizens and Majority Forward, a Democratic-aligned nonprofit organization that supports voter registration and turnout efforts, sued Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, seeking to have the law declared unconstitutional. They said auditors have used the database to correct errors in the past and that the law burdens Iowans' right to vote.

A district court upheld the law last month, and the Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed the lower court's decision.

"On the present record, we are not persuaded the statute imposes a significant burden on absentee voters," the court's four-member majority wrote. "It is not a direct burden on voting itself. Rather, it requires elected officials to collect identification information from the applicant to correct a defective application when the applicant attempts to obtain a ballot to vote absentee."

The court's ruling comes one week after it ruled in favor of President Donald Trump's campaign and other Republican groups in a different case. In that case, the court ruled that Pate, a Republican, had the authority to issue a directive preventing county auditors from sending pre-filled ballot request forms to voters.

Auditors in Linn, Johnson and Woodbury counties mailed pre-filled ballot request forms to thousands of registered voters in an effort to skirt the requirements of the new law. All the voter had to do was sign the form and the auditor would mail them a ballot. But judges subsequently invalidated those requests, ruling that they were issued in violation of Pate's directive.

Voters in those three counties who requested a ballot using the pre-filled form sent to them by their auditor need to make a second request in order to receive an absentee ballot.

The Supreme Court's ruling Wednesday echoed Republicans' argument that the person requesting an absentee ballot should be required to provide their personal information to prove their identity and protect the integrity of the voting system.

In a statement, Pate said Iowans deserve to know their votes are secure.

"The overwhelming majority of Iowans have repeatedly said they support voter ID, and this case was about having voter ID for absentee ballots. It’s legal, constitutional and fair. I thank the Iowa Supreme Court once again for reaffirming Iowa’s commitment to election integrity," Pate said.

The court said the law, which the Iowa Legislature passed on the final day of the 2020 session in June, was approved in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and that lawmakers anticipated an increase in absentee voting.

"We again decline on the eve of this election to invalidate the Legislature's statute providing additional election safeguards," the majority wrote.

Justice Dana Oxley dissented from the ruling. She was joined by Chief Justice Susan Christensen and Justice Brent Appel.

"To read the majority opinion, one might forget we're even in the midst of a historic global pandemic," Oxley wrote.

She said the majority had not taken into account the argument that the law will make it more time-consuming for auditors to honor requests for ballots as the election approaches.

"The burden on voters is this delay, which will likely cause thousands of voters to not receive their ballot in time to use it," Oxley wrote.

Iowa's deadline to request an absentee ballot is Saturday, Oct. 24. The auditor must have received the request by 5 p.m.

Early voting began Oct. 5 in Iowa and more than 600,000 Iowans have already cast their ballots, either by mail or in person.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.