Voter suppression in the 2nd Congressional District

Voter suppression is running rampant in Iowa at both federal and state levels. At the federal level, there are 22 disenfranchised voters in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District whose votes were wrongfully excluded from the election. At the state level, Republicans just passed voter suppression legislation that, among other things, reduces access to early and absentee voting. This bill was signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds this week. Unlike the threat posed to voting rights by the new legislation, Congress can rectify the exclusion of the 22 legitimate ballots with a complete and transparent recount.

Unwilling to accept the disenfranchisement of voters, Rita Hart and her lawyers have been tirelessly fighting for an accurate and consistent recount of all the ballots in the second district's congressional election. Hart's lawyer, Marc Elias, has a long standing track record of fighting voter suppression in order to strengthen democracy.

In contrast, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and her lawyers continue to promote voter suppression and silence the voices of Iowans. Miller-Meeks' lawyer, Alan Ostergren, consistently fights to strengthen voter suppression. When he's not working on disenfranchising voters in the 2nd District's congressional election, he's lobbying for the voter suppression bill that just became law.

It is important to recognize voter suppression and do everything possible to prevent it from happening. Hart and her lawyers want to make sure that every vote is counted so no voters are disenfranchised. I wish Miller-Meeks and her lawyers had the same motive.

Adam Peters

Davenport