Iowa
Secretary of State reassures Iowans elections are secure ahead of 2022 primaries
In a one-on-one interview with Native 5, Paul Pate stated his workplace is working diligently to fight misinformation and disinformation.
DES MOINES, Iowa — For the reason that 2020 presidential election, the dialog about election fraud has been pushed to the forefront.
Many concerned within the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot in Washington consider false claims of election fraud from former President Donald Trump.
These rioters included quite a few Iowans, together with father and son Daryl and Daniel Johnson, who at the moment are serving jail time for his or her involvement.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate sat down for a one-on-one interview with Native 5 to dispel a few of this misinformation and disinformation.
When requested whether or not Iowa has seen any widespread voter fraud since 2020, Pate responded merely: “No. We’ve not.”
Pate attributes a number of the confusion to making use of nationwide tales they could have seen to Iowa.
“A few of it’s they need to speak about voting gear, and since they decide on one system that may have had some nationwide consideration and so they need to drag it and apply it to Iowa, when it’s not,” Pate stated.
That features paying shut consideration to mail-in ballots as properly. Pate’s workplace stated within the 2020 elections, the state mailed out 1,050,593 ballots — 95% of these have been returned.
Of the 994,300 ballots counted, Pate’s staff says solely 2,592 have been rejected. That’s a 0.3% rejection price.
With no voter fraud seen in Iowa elections, Native 5 requested whether or not Senate File 413 was vital or just handed to strengthen present voter legal guidelines.
“The Legislature writes the legal guidelines of the land. I’m the administrator, like I stated, the referee. I’m certain a number of the umpires and each official doesn’t like each rule that comes out however I’ll say this,” Pate stated. “Quite a lot of what the Legislature did was precisely what the voters have been asking for.”
Pate stated the numbers and protocols his workplace has in place present voters shouldn’t fear.
In an op-ed he wrote within the Des Moines Register two weeks in the past, he pointed to analysis executed by the Elections Efficiency Index, which reveals Iowa third within the nation for elections efficiency in 2020.
As an added layer of security, Pate stated ballot staff on each side of the aisle are educated properly and the machines are top-notch.
“I’ve been very clear and particular. The voting gear will get licensed by us right here on the state of Iowa has been checked and re-checked and will get reviewed earlier than every election and so they don’t have web hookups so it’s secure,” he stated. “The balloting itself goes into the tabulators and when a night is over with, they are going to be reviewed and tabulators will give us preliminary outcomes.”
From the preliminary outcomes all the way in which till the ultimate ones come out, Pate hopes Iowans trust their votes are protected.
“My workplace, and me significantly, don’t put on the jersey of a staff. We’re there to do what’s proper for Iowans. Generally that doesn’t make us common however on the finish of the day, we wish you to trust and the outcomes are correct.”
