And now Iowa has made it more difficult to vote. Republican Governor Kim Reynolds signed a measure on Monday to cut the state’s early voting period and close the polls one hour earlier on general election days.
The Des Moines Register writes:
The law cuts Iowa’s early voting period from 29 days down to 20. Polls will now close at 8 p.m. for state and federal elections instead of 9 p.m.
It significantly tightens the rules for when absentee ballots must be received by county auditors in order to be counted. Ballots must now arrive by the time polls close in order to be counted. Previously, ballots placed in the mail the day before Election Day could be counted as long as they arrived by noon the following Monday.
The new measure comes after Iowa voters turned out in record numbers in the 2020 general election. The Register reports 70% of the early voters in 2020 were Democrats.
Despite no evidence of voter fraud, the move comes as legislators in Iowa and several states look to insure “election integrity.”
