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Iowa’s recounts and other elections laws poised for changes
GOP lawmakers approve two bills to address voter registration and citizenship, major party status and ranked choice voting
Mar. 25, 2025 7:11 pm
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DES MOINES — Only Iowa’s federal and statewide elections decided by a fraction of a percent would be eligible for recounts under legislation advancing at the Iowa Capitol.
Two elections bills, dealing with recount procedures, voter registration and citizenship, major party status and more, were approved Tuesday by Republican lawmakers in the Iowa House.
The bills, as they were presented Tuesday, represented negotiations between Republican leaders in the Iowa House and Senate, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate — the state’s top elections official — and the leadership group that represents local elections leaders, the county auditors.
‘Election integrity’ bill
House File 954 addresses elections laws regarding voter registration, citizenship and major party status. It also would ban ranked choice voting in Iowa. Rep. Austin Harris, a Republican from Moulton, called it House Republicans’ “election integrity” legislation.
The bill would:
- Require regular maintenance of the state’s voter registration list, including by identifying ineligible voters, through a program developed by a third party.
- As part of that maintenance, allow the Iowa Secretary of State to use state and federal documentation to determine the U.S. citizenship status of Iowans on the state’s voter registration list. The bill also creates a new voter registration status of “unconfirmed” for individuals whose citizenship the state cannot verify.
- Add citizenship status to the list of questions an election precinct official may ask a challenged voter under oath, and create new language on declaration forms confirming the voter is a U.S. citizen.
- Require for major party status a political party’s candidate for governor or president to receive at least 2 percent of the general election vote in three consecutive election cycles. An earlier version raised the threshold to 10 percent; this compromise leaves it at 2 percent but extends it from one election cycle to three.
- Prohibit the use of ranked choice voting in any Iowa elections. Ranked-choice, or instant runoff voting, allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference instead of voting for one candidate. If there is no clear winner and someone’s first choice is not likely to win, the second choice candidate is counted for the ballot. No local government in Iowa currently uses ranked choice voting.
Rep. Adam Zabner, a Democrat from Iowa City, said during debate that there is “good, bad and ugly” in the bill, including some “needed solutions.” But he and other House Democrats argued against banning ranked choice voting and raising the bar for major party status.
“When I travel around the state of Iowa and I talk to Iowans, when I talk to my constituents, the No. 1 thing I hear is that folks are fed up with our polarized, two-party system and the choices that are available,” he said.
Zabner said the bill makes it harder for a third political party to reach major party status, makes it harder for a third-party candidate to run by moving up a registration deadline and by banning ranked choice voting makes it harder to generate a general election field of varied candidates with differing viewpoints.
“It limits the options of Iowans. It boxes out competition,” Zabner said.
Harris said he believes the most important part of the bill is giving the Secretary of State’s Office more direction and authority to ensure Iowa’s registered voters are U.S. citizens.
There were 35 votes cast by Iowans who are not full U.S. citizens — and thus were ineligible to vote — in the 2024 general election, plus another 27 who either attempted to vote the election but their ballots were not counted or are registered but did not attempt to vote, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.
“Just one illegal vote is an attack on all of our votes,” Harris said. “To me, it threatens what it means to be an American. As Americans, we have a right to self-determination through our elections. And when we turn a blind eye and we let people who have not earned the right to vote to do that, that threatens all of our abilities to self-determination.”
Adam Wedmore, the Cerro Gordo County Auditor and president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors, said the auditors’ organization believes the bill makes “some positive changes” but also contains elements the group does not support.
Recount laws
House File 928 would specifically address Iowa’s recount laws. State and local elections officials have been requesting an update to Iowa’s recount laws ever since a protracted recount in a 2020 Eastern Iowa congressional election highlighted a patchwork of recount procedures across counties.
The bill would:
- Lower the threshold for election recounts to outcomes decided by either 1 percent or 50 votes, whichever is lesser, for local elections; or by less than 0.15 percent for a statewide or federal office. Candidates would no longer be required to post a bond for any recount.
- Change the composition of election recount boards — the personnel who conduct recounts — to county auditors and their staff. Currently, recount boards are comprised of one representative from each campaign plus a neutral member agreed upon by both campaigns. The bill also gives auditors the flexibility to make the recount boards as large as they deem necessary.
- Require that all recounts be conducted using automatic ballot tabulating equipment, except in “extraordinary circumstances” as determined by the Iowa Secretary of State or county auditor.
- Streamline the required timeline for recounts.
Zabner expressed concern with auditors and their staff being asked to perform recounts, given auditors are chosen by voters in partisan elections. Zabner said the bill could put auditors in the position of conducting recounts of their own elections.
Harris argued that auditors are trusted with conducting elections and thus can be trusted with conducting recounts. He said the change is needed because under the current system he has seen some recount board members work harder to maximize votes for their candidate rather than working to ensure a fair and accurate recount.
“Campaigns will no longer be able to manipulate the recount system to bend to their political aspirations,” Harris said. “These fixes will bring consistency, reliability, fairness, uniformity and enforcement, creating a fair process to recount our elections and for our citizens no matter their political party to have faith and trust that despite a close election the result is accurate.”
Wedmore said the county auditors organization supports the recount bill. Auditors are pleased to see a bill that would speed up the recount process, place some restrictions on when a recount can be called and allows auditors to expand their recount boards if needed.
The bills are now eligible for consideration in the Iowa Senate.
Pate’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com
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