U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson negative on Dems’ election proposal

Saying it should be 'easier to vote legally and harder to cheat,” U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson voted against the campaign finance and voter access bill that passed the U.S. House this week, but she declined to weigh in on an Iowa bill that limits early voting.

As now proposed, House Resolution 1 would automatically register eligible voters, allow for same-day voter registration and voting by mail and a host of other measures Hinson charged would 'federalize elections.”

'I think we should be improving the faith in our electoral process, but this would overrule states' constitutional authority,” the Marion Republican, who represents Iowa's 1st District, said during a Friday call with reporters.

The bill, now in the Senate, would ban lawmakers from sitting on corporate boards and stop lawmakers from using taxpayer money to reach settlements in employment discrimination cases stemming from their own actions.

It also calls for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, a 2010 Supreme Court decision that allowed unlimited corporate spending on elections.

Hinson said she particularly disliked how the bill would establish a public financing system for congressional races, similar to presidential races, and provide a $6 to $1 match rate up to $200, in what's known as the small-dollar matching program.

She also bemoaned a pilot voucher program where eligible voters can request $25 vouchers to distribute to a congressional candidate of their choice.

'We need to make it easier to vote legally and harder to cheat, period, and respect states' constitutional authority to run their own elections,” she said.

The bill, which passed the House on a party-line vote, counters bills introduced in Iowa and 42 other states legislatures this year that would limit the time and methods for voting.

Iowa Republicans, who say the bill is a check on voter fraud, passed the measure along party lines in the state Legislature, sending it to Gov. Kim Reynolds.

Hinson said she hadn't seen Iowa's bill but that she believed election rules should be set by states.

'Lawmakers looked at our election law and came up with what they thought was the right solution,” she said. 'I can tell you, a federal takeover is not the right solution.”