HR 21 (LSB 2614YH (3) 86)

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 21

BY  GASKILL, OLSON, SMITH, HUNTER, STECKMAN, ABDUL-SAMAD, BERRY, KEARNS, OURTH, T. TAYLOR, ANDERSON, BEARINGER, FINKENAUER, H. MILLER, THEDE, HANSON, PRICHARD, STUTSMAN, MASCHER, LENSING, GAINES, COHOON, BROWN-POWERS, KELLEY, FORBES, STAED, WOLFE, HEDDENS, HALL, WINCKLER, GASSMAN, JACOBY, and DAWSON

A Resolution urging the United States Postal Service to ensure the postmarking of all absentee ballot materials mailed through the postal service.

   WHEREAS, voting is a fundamental right protective of all other constitutionally guaranteed rights, and all levels of government must protect the fundamental constitutional right of every American to vote to ensure that the Constitution’s promise is fully realized; and
   WHEREAS, the expansion of voting rights did not happen overnight, but was instead the product of a continued struggle by many people over many decades to expand the electorate to include individuals who did not own property, women, people of color, and young adults who had previously been denied participation in the electoral franchise; and
   WHEREAS, in the 2012 presidential election 679,118 Iowans, totaling 43 percent of all Iowa voters, cast their votes by absentee ballot; and
   WHEREAS, in the 2014 gubernatorial election 469,185 Iowans, totaling 41 percent of all Iowa voters, cast their votes by absentee ballot; and
   WHEREAS, county commissioners of elections in Iowa regularly receive hundreds of absentee ballots through the United States Postal Service during each regular school, regular city, primary, and general election in return envelopes that are not postmarked by the United States Postal Service; and
   WHEREAS, on October 30, 2014, Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) cosigned a letter to United States Postal Service district managers to “respectfully request that [the Postal Service] instruct your staff across the states to take the actions necessary to ensure that every ballot is postmarked and thus ensure that every Iowa vote that is properly cast can also be properly counted”; and
   WHEREAS, despite repeated requests by Iowa’s state and federal elected officials to seek administrative solutions to provide for the postmarking of every Iowa absentee ballot, such requests have not resulted in uniform compliance across Iowa’s 99 counties; and
   WHEREAS, postal service has been a vital buttress of American democracy since our country’s founding when Benjamin Franklin served under the Continental Congress as the first United States Postmaster General; NOW THEREFORE,

   BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE, That the House of Representatives joins United States Senator Chuck Grassley and Former United States Senator Tom Harkin in respectfully requesting that the United States Postal Service instruct all its staff to take the actions necessary to ensure that every ballot returned through the United States Postal Service for every election in this state is postmarked, thereby ensuring that each Iowa vote that is properly cast can also be properly counted; and

   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives respectfully requests that the Secretary of State consult with the Postmaster General of the United States, the District Manager of the Hawkeye District of the United States Postal Service, and the District Manager of the Central Plains District of the United States Postal Service to search for administrative solutions to ensure that every ballot returned through the United States Postal Service can be and is postmarked by the United States Postal Service; and
   BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives shall transmit certified copies of this Resolution to each member of the Iowa congressional delegation, the United States Postmaster General, the District Manager of the Hawkeye District of the United States Postal Service, and the District Manager of the Central Plains District of the United States Postal Service.