The race for Iowa Secretary of State is normally pretty sedate, but this year is an exception, as the enthusiastic crowd that packed Old Brick on Tuesday afternoon loudly demonstrated. That’s because the office controls voting in the state, and voting in the November general election is critical to bringing change to the state and […]
Paul Pate
Posted inLetters
Letter to the editor: Why the Secretary of State race is important to Iowans with disabilities
It might not seem like the most exciting race, but for Johnson County voters, I’m going to say Secretary of State is the most important contest on the ballot. Democratic candidate Deidre DeJear has called the position she’s running for the “gatekeeper”: The Iowa Secretary of State supervises elections — a big deal in these days of hacking, voter purges and court battles over poll ID laws. Just last year, actually, DeJear’s…
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Secretary of State says he’s not trying to undermine a judge’s ruling on voter ID
On Friday, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate issued a statement explaining his office was not encouraging county-level election officials to ignore a court order suspending parts of Iowa’s 2017 voter ID law. The statement was necessary, because on Thursday a top elections official from the Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) told a meeting of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Finkenauer campaign was responsible for text messages sending voters to the wrong polling places
Abby Finkenauer’s congressional campaign was responsible for the text messages containing erroneous information about where to vote in the primary election that were sent to voters in five Iowa counties on Monday and Tuesday, according to the Secretary of State’s office. On Wednesday afternoon, the office issued a press release explaining that a vendor working […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Hubbell, Wahls and Dejear win, and other notable results from the 2018 primary election
Fred Hubbell won the Democratic nomination for governor with a decisive victory in Tuesday’s primary election. For months it was widely speculated that none of the six Democratic candidates for governor would receive 35 percent of the vote, which would leave the selection of the nominee to the Democratic Party convention. Even though the primary […]
Posted inCommunity/News
E-bills can now be used for voter registration, and Sec. of State Paul Pate wants credit for it
Last year, the legislature made it harder to vote in Iowa by imposing new ID requirements and cutting early voting hours, but a bill signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds last week will make it easier to register to vote. Iowans will now be able to use emailed utility bills, instead of just snail-mailed paper ones, […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Letter to the Editor: Proposed voter ID measures cost money, time
By Cindy Altmaier Riley I love Iowa! Did you know that over 70 percent of Iowans registered to vote turned out in the recent election? As Iowans we should be proud of this; voting is part of who we are as a state. That said, I have to admit that the Iowa election process could […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Secretary of State proposal would require voter IDs in name of election integrity
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate proposed legislation yesterday that he said would work to ensure the integrity of Iowa’s elections by requiring things like voter ID at polling places and creating an electronic poll book for every Iowa precinct, with voters scanning state-issued IDs or voter registration cards when checking in to polling places. […]
