Paul Pate blew off warning Iowa unlawfully disenfranchises voters

[progressoid]

Eight weeks ago, two voting rights organizations warned Secretary of State Paul Pate that “Iowa’s voter list maintenance practices are arbitrary and unlawful.” They offered to work with his staff to bring Iowa into compliance with federal and state law, Jason Clayworth reported for the Des Moines Register on August 7.

Pate didn’t even acknowledge their letter.

The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University’s School of Law studied Iowa’s voter list maintenance after the Register published a major investigation by Clayworth in March, showing that “Iowa’s flawed felon list has been disqualifying legitimate voters for years.” The same series also found that “whether someone who committed a felony out of state gets included in Iowa’s felon database appears little more than happenstance.”

The Brennan Center’s counsel Eliza Sweren-Becker and League of Women Voters of Iowa president Terese Grant wrote to Pate on June 13. The Register uploaded the full text of their letter and accompanying exhibits. Excerpts:

...https://www.bleedingheartland.com/2019/08/10/paul-pate-blew-off-warning/