Lower voting age not a priority for Iowa secretary of state candidates

CEDAR RAPIDS - Candidates for Iowa secretary of state are calling for more voter education and better use of technology to increase citizen participation in elections.

However, Democrat Brad Anderson and Republican Paul Pate said Wednesday they're unlikely to recommend following Scotland's example of lowering the voting age to 16.

Despite the high turnout among Scottish youth - about 80 percent - in the recent referendum on independence from Great Britain, Anderson, a partner in a Des Moines political consulting firm, said Wednesday 'there's no need, no sense of urgency to change election laws” to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote.

However, he is proposing a 'digital election ambassador” program to empower students and educators to teach and learn about the election process, and facilitate conversations about participation.

Pate, owner of a Cedar Rapids paving company, thinks lowering the voting age is worth a look.

'But the first thing we need to do is figure out why the 18- to 30-year-olds aren't voting,” said Pate, 56, who served as secretary of state from 1995-99.

State legislators have proposed allowing 17-year-olds to vote in primary and school board elections, but Pate thinks the inconsistency would cause more confusion.

Both candidates called for expanding use of computer-based poll books used in 68 counties to move voters through polling places more quickly and strengthen election security.

Anderson, 39, supports current voter identification laws that allow any poll worker to ask any voter in any election for identification.

'It has worked for decades. It has prevented fraud for decades,” Anderson said.

Pate agreed, but would tie the voter registration data to the Department of Transportation driver's license database. Each driver's license includes a bar code, photo and signature for additional verification.

Poll workers wouldn't have to ask for a photo, he said, because they would have it on the poll book in front of them. Pate said 93 percent of eligible Iowa voters have driver's licenses, so the state would have to fund similar identification cards for the last 7 percent.

'There's not a whole lot of substance to Pate's proposal,” Anderson said, warning it could disenfranchise voters and will cost 'real money” to provide the necessary IDs.

With the steps he is proposing, Pate said the state could safely move to online voter registration, online voting and permanent absentee voting - one of Anderson's proposals.

l Comments: (319) 398-8375; james.lynch@thegazette.com