Headed for Iowa House vote, election bill draws debate

DES MOINES - A proposal requiring voters to produce identification cards to cast ballots either will protect the integrity of elections or disenfranchise thousands of people, especially Latinos, African Americans and transgendered Iowans, according to speakers at a public hearing Monday night.

Secretary of State Paul Pate told the House State Government Committee he is 'adamant” no voter would be disenfranchised under House File 516, formerly House Study Bill 93.

'This bill is about modernizing our elections technology, streamlining the system and securing the integrity by preventing the potential for fraud or human error,” the GOP secretary of state said.

That's the impetus behind the bill moving to the floor of the Republican-controlled House, likely this week.

In short, the bill, which was approved by the House State Government Committee on a party-line vote, would make several changes in election law, including a requirement that voters provide a photo ID, implementation of polling place technology, mandatory post-election audits and new timelines for absentee voting as well as mandatory election training, tests and publications.

State Government Committee Chairman Ken Rizer, R-Cedar Rapids, predicted that the use of technology such as e-pollbooks, currently used by 72 of the state's 99 counties, and other changes would make voting as easy as going through the express line at the supermarket.

Nothing in this legislation would prevent any eligible voter from casting a ballot - in person or by mail, Pate insisted.

'It's disappointing some folks have decide to politicize this issue,” Pate said, 'especially when poll after poll has shown overwhelming support for a voter ID program.”

However, speakers at the 90-minute hearing were divided on that.

Cerro Gordo County Auditor Ken Kline said he has not supported previous voter photo ID bills, in part because they failed to address the least secure part of the voting process - the mail-out absentee ballot.

However, HF 516 is a 'major improvement,” he said, because it offers a 'multilayered approach, it allows a voter multiple processes to prove their identity … that doesn't rely on a single element, such as a photo or a signature.”

But Daniel Zeno of the American Civil Liberties Union-Iowa called it 'unnecessary and expensive” because it could disenfranchise thousands of voters, especially African Americans who lack driver's licenses or non-operator permits.

Betty Andrews, president of the Iowa-Nebraska NAACP, went further, calling HF 516 a 'reincarnated poll tax and literacy test designed to disproportionately suppress the voting numbers of people of color.”

Mitch Henry of the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa, also warned the bill would disenfranchise Latino voters.

'Voting is the heart of our democracy,” he said, 'but a government that undermines its very foundation of its existence - the right to vote, endangers its legitimacy as a democratic government.”

Emma Aquino-Nemecek of Linn County didn't think it was too much to ask of Iowans, who are accustomed to showing an ID to cash a check, apply for a loan or government benefits or board a plane.

'The integrity of elections is very important and we must protect it,” Nemecek said.

Johnson County Auditor Travis Weipert, however, asked the committee to proceed slowly.

'What problem are we solving?” he asked. 'To me, it seems like we're fixing something that's not broken. This isn't a tweak. This is an overhaul on something that's not broken.”

l Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com