DES MOINES – Rep. Shannon Latham announced she proudly helped shrink Democracy at the state capitol by eliminating ballot drop boxes across Iowa.
According to Rep. Shannon Latham’s office:
House File 2610 is the second round of election law changes since 2016 to help ensure Iowa’s election system remains the most secure in the country.
This bill explicitly bans ranked-choice, which involves ranking each candidate in order of preference and reallocating votes to a voter’s second choice candidate if their first choice fails to win a majority. The Iowa Secretary of State’s office has said state law already prohibits the practice, but this bill makes it clear.
Other policies included in HF 2610:
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Creating an affidavit envelope for absentee voters to affix their signature and verification number. This ensures Voter ID is required even if you vote absentee.
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Removing ballot drop boxes, which are unnecessary with the COVID-19 pandemic behind us.
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Strengthening the Iowa Secretary of State’s “Safe at Home” program to protect the confidentiality of voters who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, trafficking, stalking or assault.
House File 2610 also requires mail-in ballots to be received by the county auditor’s office by close of business on the day before Election Day. During floor debate, Rep. Bobby Kaufmann emphasized that Iowans have 504 hours to vote in Iowa.
Now that HF 2610 has passed off the Iowa House floor, it moves to the Iowa Senate for consideration.
Latham (pictured at top via her office, working extremely hard)