Mariannette Miller-Meeks changes voting address back to Ottumwa home

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, who since 2022 has been registered to vote in Scott County, earlier this year changed her voter registration back to her Ottumwa home, according to voter records from Wapello County.

Miller-Meeks was first elected to Congress in 2020, representing a district that included her home in Wapello County. During redistricting following the 2020 census, Ottumwa became part of the 3rd District, while much of Miller-Meeks’ former district became part of the new 1st District.

Miller-Meeks took up residency in Scott County, first registering to vote at a then-state senator's home in LeClaire. In 2024, Miller-Meeks rented an apartment in Davenport and registered there.

Opponents criticized her for the change to the apartment, and questioned whether she actually lived where she was voting, citing tax records and Miller-Meeks' own campaign forms that indicate her primary address was in Wapello County.

Federal rules don't require members of Congress to live in the district they represent, just to reside in the same state. Iowa law, though, requires voters to register to vote at their primary address and vote in the county where they primarily reside.

A LeClaire resident filed a request for an ethics investigation and a Davenport attorney challenged Miller-Meeks’ 2024 ballot cast in Scott County. The Office of Congressional ethics did not take up the ethics complaint further and a Scott County board accepted Miller-Meeks' ballot.

According to Wapello County records, Miller-Meeks changed her voter registration to her Ottumwa home on July 11 of this year.

She did not vote in Wapello County in Iowa's November 2025 city/school elections. The last time she voted was in Scott County in 2024, according to the Wapello County Auditor's Office.

Miller-Meeks' campaign acknowledged the change.

"Congresswoman Miller-Meeks has moved her residency back to their property in Ottumwa to be by her husband’s side," Peter Owens, a spokesperson for the Miller-Meeks campaign, wrote in an email. "Miller-Meeks has lived in Southeast Iowa for almost 40 years and remains committed to serving the people of Iowa's 1st Congressional District, having held over 280 events in all 20 counties this year alone."

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Miller-Meeks and her husband, Curtis Meeks, have owned 33 acres of land in Ottumwa since purchasing it in March 2003 and the couple constructed their home in 2004.