Legislative panel aims to make online voter registration available to more Iowans

DES MOINES - A Senate legislative panel Tuesday began work on a measure designed to make online voter registration available to more Iowans beyond the upgrade being planned by the Iowa Secretary of State's office.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is working on a system with the state Department of Transportation that will offer the electronic registration option to anyone with a valid Iowa driver's license or a state-issued identification card.

However, Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Waterloo, leader of a Senate State Government subcommittee, said Senate Study Bill 1152 would expand the online registration option to eligible voters who do not have access to a computer or face other challenges. He estimated that represented 7 percent to 9 percent of eligible Iowa voters.

Danielson said Iowa previously passed groundbreaking election reforms and partnered with county auditors to establish a voter-verified paper trail to help Iowa avoid 'a Florida moment” similar to the 2000 presidential ballot-counting fiasco.

'We have one of the safest, most secure ways to verify a vote in the entire country,” Danielson said. The next logical step is to modernize the system using the latest technology to create 'a 21st century solution to an age-old process,” he said, which requires perfecting things like electronic signatures and other verification features.

Sen. Jason Schultz, R-Schleswig, said he wanted to see a photo identification requirement for Iowa voters to guard against fraud and he was reluctant to 'open the registration end” without taking similar measures at the voting end of the process. 'If we could bring photo ID into this, that would be fantastic,” he said.

Under the system being established by Pate's office, Iowa residents seeking to register to vote online will be able to sign in on the Secretary of State's website or their county auditor's website. They will be able to log in with their driver's license number or state operator's license number and will receive a voter registration card in the mail.

Iowans can preregister online up to 10 days before the election. After that deadline, voters can register at the polls on Election Day.

Danielson said the bipartisan work underway is a 'layered” approach while the partisan gridlock over the photo ID issue has put election upgrades in limbo for the past four years. While the effort is moving forward, Danielsen said 'we're not in a rush” with the focus being on implementing the changes correctly rather than trying to get something in place by the 2016 election.