Des Moines, IA- The Iowa Secretary of State is proposing a series of steps that he says will ensure the recount process in close elections is the same in every county.
Radio Iowa reports that Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate recorded a statement about the bill he is asking legislators to pass.
“We’ve had an opportunity to identify these areas of improvement while observing several large-scale recounts in recent years,” Pate said.
For example, Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks was elected by a six-vote margin in 2020 after recounts in 24 counties, but the recount process was not identical in each county
Pate is recommending that when a candidate asks for a hand recount, ballots are recounted by hand and by machine. Also, larger counties would be able to have up to seven members on recount boards.
Under current law, all counties are limited to a three-person board to oversee a recount. “The integrity of Iowa’s elections is my top priority and this bill will help us ensure that we have clean, secure elections and a recount process that is uniform across the state,” Pate says.
Pate’s also calling for all counties to conduct their official canvass of elections on Tuesdays, to make the timeline uniform for every county.
