Capitol Notebook: 183K Iowans’ voter registration canceled by state due to inactivity

DES MOINES — The voter registrations of roughly 183,000 Iowans have been canceled after they did not vote in the past three elections, the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office said Monday.

That cleanup of the state’s voter registration list is required under a state law passed in 2021. The law sped up the voter registration maintenance.

Under the law, Iowa voters are moved from active to inactive status after not voting in any general election — a change that does not impact a person’s registration status or ability to vote.

Once an Iowa voter’s status becomes inactive, their registration is canceled if they do not vote in two more consecutive general elections.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, the state’s top elections official, said Iowans affected by this recent voter registration list maintenance will receive notice of their voter registration change and can reregister at any time.

Iowa state law also allows voter registration at the polls on Election Day.

“This process is critical in balancing voter integrity and voter participation,” Pate said in a press release. “Clean voter registration lists keep elections secure and accurate, and same day voter registration allows any eligible voter to register to vote at the polls, on Election Day, and cast a ballot.”

There were 182,316 fewer inactive Iowa voters in February than the previous month, according to Iowa Secretary of State data.

The percentages of inactive voters whose registration was canceled was roughly equal across the major political parties: the number of inactive Iowa Republican voters dropped 45 percent from January to February, while the number of Iowa Democratic voters dropped 47 percent, according to Secretary of State data.

Iowans can check their voter registration status at voterready.iowa.gov, a site maintained by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.

Iowa Legislature honors member who died last week

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Lawmakers left flowers on the desk of Rep. Martin Graber, a Republican from Fort Madison who died Friday morning of a heart attack at the age of 72, according to Iowa House Republicans.

Iowa House lawmakers opened the day with condolences to Graber's family.

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“If there is one thing that I think we can all say about Rep. Graber — and this doesn't happen too often in this business — is there’s not a lot of people, if anyone, that’s ever had a bad thing to say about Martin Graber,” Republican House Speaker Pat Grassley said in brief remarks after gaveling the House to order Monday. “And so he’s going to be deeply missed by this body. Please think about (his wife) Coni and his family in the upcoming days.”

Rep. Jon Dunwell, R-Newton, then led the House in prayer in Graber’s memory.

All work in the Iowa House is canceled Tuesday so members and staff can attend Graber’s funeral in Fort Madison.

Graber is survived by his wife, Coni, two daughters and two grandchildren.

Graber was reelected in November to a third term in the Iowa House of Representatives. He was first elected in 2020.

He served 32 years in the Iowa National Guard and retired as a brigadier general. Graber also worked as a financial adviser and human resources manager. He served as a past chair of the Lee County Republican Party and was an active member, elder and Sunday school teacher at the Fort Madison Christian Church, according to a legislative biography.

Online condolences to the Graber family may be left at the King-Lynk Funeral Home & Crematory website, kinglynk.com.

Iowa AG Bird defends Trump order ending birthright citizenship

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Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird is leading 18 Republican-led states in defending President Donald Trump’s executive order seeking to end birthright citizenship.

On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order to revoke birthright citizenship. It quickly faced legal challenges from across the country, including a temporary block ordered by a federal district court judge.

The case argues birthright citizenship incentivizes illegal border crossings and ending it will stop pregnant women from crossing the border to give birth in the United States.

“President Trump is right: we must restore the meaning and value of American citizenship,” Bird said in a news release. “For too long, mass numbers of illegal aliens and foreign tourists — especially from China — have been entering our country just to give birth here and hand their kids American citizenship. On top of that, taxpayers are on the hook to pay for it. I’m defending President Trump’s executive order that closes the birthright citizenship loophole and eliminates the incentive for illegal immigration. No one should be rewarded for breaking the law.”

Under the Fourteenth Amendment, birthright citizenship is granted to those who are born in the United States or who have a parent with U.S. citizenship. A clause in the amendment states "all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside."

The case argues that Trump’s executive order is constitutional under an interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment that would not grant birthright citizenship to those who were born in the U.S. to non-citizen parents.

The day after Trump issued the executive order, a group of 18 Democratic state attorneys general moved to block it. Washington D.C. and the city of San Francisco also filed lawsuits.

States joining the case led by Bird include Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau

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