Anderson: Allow abuse victims to keep addresses private when voting

DES MOINES - Iowa's major-party Secretary of State candidates agree on the need for a program to keep private the home addresses of voters who have been victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.

Democratic candidate Brad Anderson on Wednesday unveiled his proposal for a program that would allow abuse victims to obtain a substitute address - most likely a P.O. box - when registering to vote so their home address does not become public information.

Republican candidate Paul Pate said he also supports such a program.

Anderson, Pate and Libertarian candidate Jake Porter are running for Iowa Secretary of State. Incumbent Matt Schultz is not running for re-election; he made an unsuccessful bid for the U.S. House in Iowa's 3rd District.

'I think there's tremendous value in a program like this. It's unfortunate that this has to be something that we consider when we cast our votes, that our information might be released publicly, potentially to someone that we don't want to have it and leading to a dangerous situation,” said Tiffany Allison of Des Moines, who spoke at Anderson's news conference.

Allison said she was placed in danger and felt revictimized when her personal information was published in a newspaper after she was the victim of domestic violence in 2009.

'I would definitely take advantage of a program like this if it was implemented,” she said.

Thirty-six U.S. states have address confidentiality programs on the books, according to the National Center for Victims of Crimes.

That gives Anderson the confidence Iowa could create a similar program, which would require legislative action.

'I believe the time has come to bring a ‘Safe at Home' program to Iowa,” Anderson said.

Pate said he also supports an address confidentiality program.

'As Iowa's next Secretary of State, I will make it a priority to join those other states in initiatives like the ‘Safe at Home' program to help provide security and access to services for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking or stalking,” Pate said.

Porter said he had not given the issue a lot of thought but thinks it is something he would 'definitely want to look into a little bit more.”

'I think the idea certainly has merit,” Porter said. 'It's something we should definitely consider.”