CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – A judge on Thursday ordered a county in Iowa to invalidate 50,000 absentee ballot requests, in line with President Donald Trump’s campaign that the election commissioner overruled his authority by filling them with voters’ personal information.
Judge Ian Thornhill issued a temporary injunction, ordering Linn County Auditor Joel Miller to notify voters in writing that the forms should not be too full with their information and that they could not be processed. Instead, they have to fill in new requests for absentee ballots or vote on election day.
The ruling marks an initial victory for Trump’s challenges to absentee voting procedures in three counties in Iowa, which is expected to be competitive in his race against Democratic nominee Joe Biden. They are part of a unique legal battle involving dozens of lawsuits nationwide that will shape the rules of the election.
Republicans said the ruling would hold a “rogue auditor” and strengthen the security of the vote, while angry Democrats called it an act of voter repression. Miller said he would keep to the order, promising to cancel the recurring requests and send new blank forms to voters next month.
To order was Miller’s decision to send absentee ballot forms in July to 140,000 voters who were already full of their personal information, including names, dates of birth and, most importantly, voter identification numbers.
Miller, a Democrat, said his goal was to make it as easy as possible to vote for absences during a pandemic because the virus spreads itself uncontrollably across the state.
Voters had to view, sign and return the forms to request ballot papers to be sent by October 5th. About 50,000 applications have been returned in the Democratic-leaning province, which is the second-largest in Iowa and recovering from a derecho that devastated the region Aug. 10 The telephone system for the county election office went out of service Thursday.
Thornhill ruled that Miller’s mailing was in violation of a “clear guideline” from Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, who told county officials in July that absenteeism forms should be sent to voters in order to to ensure uniformity.
Absent voting, in which voters mail or drop off their ballot papers at provincial offices, has become popular during the coronavirus pandemic as a way to avoid the risk of busy polling stations. It led to record attendance during the Iowa primary in June.
But weeks later, the Republican-controlled legislature passed a new law to make such votes harder. It blocked auditors from using their databases to fill in the four-digit voice identification numbers, which few know and are routinely left blank on the forms.
Instead, the law requires auditors to contact voters via e-mail or e-mail to correct their own mistakes. Supporters argued that asking voters to fill out their forms was a step towards making absentee ballots safer.
Miller and election commissioners in Johnson and Woodbury counties said contacting voters who left the information blank would be too difficult and potentially denied to people, that they would mail forms with the information already filled out. They stated that the law did not block them from doing so,
Trump’s campaign and Republican State and national groups have filed lawsuits against the three counties, seeking to return all forms in response to the mailings. They warned that any ballot in response to the mailings could be challenged later.
Thornhill’s statement, issued after hearing arguments Thursday, is the first to date. Another hearing is set for Friday in Woodbury County, where 14,000 of the absent polling station requests were returned. A hearing in the Democratic stronghold of Johnson County, where thousands more have returned, is scheduled for next week.
Thornhill, appointed by Democratic Gov. Chet Culver in 2009, ruled that the Trump campaign and Republican groups had legal status to bring the case. He found that they had a likelihood of being harmed, noting that not all Iowa counties had the money to send out previously submitted ballot requests.
He thought Trump and the GOP were likely to gain the upper hand, saying Miller’s decision to fill out the forms sent to voters went against Pate’s directive and the intent of the new law.
Thornhill acknowledged that extraordinary remedial action should be taken under his order, but that Miller’s “words and actions show that he was aware of the risk he was taking.” He said voters would not lose their right to vote and still have time to get absent ballots in any other way.
The Secretary of State has claimed that the mailing violated a law intended to protect personal information stored in government and business databases, and asked prosecutors to investigate.
It claims that Miller had no legitimate purpose in accessing voters’ identification numbers and sharing them with a vendor who processed the mailing. Attorney General’s Office spokeswoman Lynn Hicks said the office has not decided whether to open an investigation.
Linn County County Attorney Elena Wolford argued that the state’s directive was invalid and not binding on Miller, who has broad authority to conduct county elections.
She called the mailing an attempt to broaden access to the vote during the pandemic and said Republicans had shown no casualties, saying her argument that it could encourage voter fraud was hypothetical.
She warned that an order voters expecting absentee ballots and taxpayers being forced to pay for extra sent notifications would hurt.
