On Monday, Republican Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds signed a controversial bill into law which introduces a number of new restrictions on the voting process, including but not limited to: reducing the number of early voting days from 29 to 20 days, closing polling locations an hour earlier on Election Day (8p.m. instead of 9p.m.), and banning officials from sending applications for absentee voting without a voter first requesting one.
The legislation passed both Republican-controlled chambers last month and drew immediate backlash from Democrats in the state – including a tweet from the Iowa Democratic Party stating, “We deserve better.” Similarly, Democratic election attorney Marc Elias subsequently condemned the law as the “first major suppression law since the 2020 election” and insinuated that litigation may be forthcoming.
Despite the early upheaval provoked by this news, the passing of this legislation is, ironically, not an isolated incident in the state of Iowa – but rather part of a much larger effort by GOP legislators across the country to roll back voting access in light of the November 2020 election outcome. In fact, according to a February analysis conducted by the Brennan Center for Justice, over 165 restrictive bills have been introduced, prefiled, or carried in 33 different state legislatures this year (in stark contrast to a total of 35 bills in 15 states by February 3rd of last year).
With unprecedented numbers of voters casting their ballots by mail in the 2020 election, it logically follows that legislators would show particular interest in absentee voting reform. In a statement released earlier this week, Governor Reynolds claimed that such legislation is necessary to help strengthen uniformity for election officials, and promote “transparency and accountability”. However, whether these restrictions truly help restore voter confidence in democracy or are just a measure to suppress the vote in future elections is still unclear. It will be interesting to see how Reynolds’ arguments are used in other states and if they hold.
Here at CIMA Law Group, we will be following the matter closely.
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