Iowa’s Secretary of State in area to remind voters of need for ID when they vote in November

Iowa’s Secretary of State is in north-central Iowa today, reminding voters that they’ll need identification when heading to the polls for city and school board elections in November.

Paul Pate says last year’s soft rollout of Voter ID at the polls was successful.  “Voters got it. We had a record voter turnout, and so going into this cycle here, we just want to make sure that the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed and that people get the gist of it. Bring your driver’s license or you can get your free Voter ID card from your county auditor. There are several other forms of ID that we take. You can check that out on voterreadyiowa.org. It has a listing of what IDs are acceptable.”

 94-percent of the Iowans registered to vote have a driver’s license that they can use as their ID for elections. Pate says if you don’t have a driver’s license and you haven’t received a voter ID card, contact the county auditor’s office.  “Well if they are already registered, it’s real simple. They just need to call the county auditor and they’ll take care of it for them.”

Voter ID laws have been a political issue for years. Pate says Voter ID continues to bring integrity to our state’s elections.  “What we do in Iowa is we take our voting very seriously. We want to make sure we can assure the voters of full integrity. You don’t put a new lock on the house after the burglar steals something from your home, so it comes to Voter ID it’s a natural protection, if you will. I’m very proud to be able to tell people in Iowa we’ve got your back covered when it comes to the integrity of our elections.”

A Polk County judge recently upheld a majority of the state’s Voter ID law, stating that the requirement for voters to show identification at the polls does not violate the state’s constitution. Pate says, “The judge came down with his ruling and he indicated that Voter ID was the law of the land. Out of 35 pages, he had five sentences removed, so I think that’s pretty clear and so we are ready to operate on that.”

 For more about elections and the Voter ID law, you can head to the website voterreadyiowa.org.