Week in Iowa, Oct. 20, 2024: Recap of news from across the state

Shortened early voting period off to quick start: Absentee ballot requests are down from recent presidential elections, with the number of early voting days in Iowa cut in half since 2016. Some county auditors, however, say daily rates of early voting so far could bring tallies above past elections.

As of last Monday, there had been about 327,000 requests for in-person or mail-in early voting in the state, compared with 465,000 at the same point in 2016 and 808,000 in 2020. Republican lawmakers shortened the early voting window twice since 2016, now to 20 days. Johnson County saw high numbers of early voting in person earlier last week, though, and Auditor Erin Shane predicts the total might surpass recent presidential elections.

Congressional debate: The candidates for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, Republican incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Christina Bohannan, appeared in a debate Tuesday on Iowa PBS. Immigration and abortion were the main focuses in a race that some analysts view as a toss-up. The full, hourlong debate can be viewed at iowpbs.org.

Campaign help: U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson appeared at campaign events last week with incumbent Republican U.S. Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn. Both incumbents, in the 1st and 3rd congressional districts, respectively, are in races some analysts consider toss-ups. Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota campaigned with Nunn’s challenger, Lanon Baccam, also.

Iowa schoolbook ban faces new legal challenge: An Iowa law restricting books with depictions of sex acts from school libraries and prohibiting the teaching of sexual orientation and gender identity through sixth grade has again been challenged in federal court. Attorneys representing Iowa Safe Schools, two teachers and six students filed the lawsuit last week requesting a preliminary injunction.

The law previously had been halted by a lower court, but the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that injunction in August. The new lawsuit adds two teachers as plaintiffs, references a July U.S. Supreme Court decision and addresses some of the issues raised by the Court of Appeals.

Noncitizens voting: Republican Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said last week that at least 87 noncitizens had voted illegally in recent Iowa elections and another 67 noncitizens had registered to vote. The votes and registrations, along with 2,022 cases where the voter’s citizen status was not clear, came during an audit of more than 2.3 million Iowa voter records. The records were cross checked with Iowa Department of Transportation records, which include citizenship status.

Public defenders: The Iowa Public Defender’s Office filed a writ of mandamus with the state Supreme Court, asking for Scott County’s 7th Judicial District to enter an order withdrawing local public defenders in 10 cases. The public defenders say local judges are refusing to rule on their requests to withdraw, which they are making due to temporary overload. Iowa Chief Public Defender Jeff Wright said some of the attorneys in the Scott County office are handling an average of 300 cases.

They said ...

"All of us auditors and our staff, we all care so deeply about this process and the integrity of the election. So when you see all the flaws in this, that's what kills us." —Adams County Auditor Rebecca Bissell on the shortened mail-in voting window

“That’s the tightrope we walk. As I said, my two roles, I encourage voting and giving you accessibility, but I have to also maintain the integrity.” — Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate on audit that found dozens of noncitizens in the state voted

Odds and ends

Trademark use: An attorney with Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ campaign wrote a letter to the University of Iowa arguing her opponent in the race, Christina Bohannan, had used a university trademark without authorization. Bohannan, who is a law professor at the UI, appears in an ad aired earlier this month in a black T-shirt with “IOWA” in gold letters.

Campaign spending: Fundraising reports due last weekend showed the Statehouse campaigns with the highest amount of outside funding were concentrated in the metro and suburban areas around the state, including Johnston, Ankeny, Council Bluffs and Dubuque. The race with the most spending is Republican Sen. Brad Zaun’s race against Democrat Matthew Blake in Johnston, in which more than $150,000 from outside groups has been spent, mostly in favor of Zaun.

Water cooler

E. coli outbreak: Iowa is among the states affected by an outbreak of E. coli food poisoning from McDonald’s Quarter Pounders that sickened at least 49 people and killed one. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one person in Iowa was sickened. The fast food company pulled Quarter Pounders from the menu in affected areas, including parts of Iowa. It is believed the contamination was from raw slivered onions.

KTIV sports director dies: Brad Pautsch, the longtime sports director with KTIV-TV in Sioux City, died at age 58 after a more than three-year battle with brain cancer. He joined KTIV in 1990, after graduating from Iowa State University, and became the station’s sports director in 1996.