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Permanent LinkMeeting Public Comments
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A bill for an act relating to the conduct of elections, including provisions related to absentee ballots, recounts, and contested gubernatorial elections and impeachments, making penalties applicable, and including effective date and applicability provisions.(See SF 2343.)
Subcommittee members: Smith, R.-CH, Cournoyer, Jochum
Date: Wednesday, February 16, 2022
Time: 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM
Location: Room G15
Comments Submitted:
Download CommentsThe purpose of comments is to provide information to members of the subcommittee.
Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.
02-15-2022
Diane Holst []
Zuckerberg orchestrated a money apparatus of 10 nonprofits funded by 5 foundations whose involvement fundamentally undermined the electoral system. The 2020 election witnessed a coordinated and concerted effort funded by Mr. Zuckerberg and other hightech interests to use government to improperly influence the election. Zuckerbergs $500 million intervention included a $350 million donation to the Center for Technology and Civic Life (CTCL), which used the money to illegally inflate turnout. This network injected hundreds of millions of dollars into the election, violating state and federal election laws in the process and ensuring an unequal distribution of funding, depriving voters of both due process and equal protection. Sixtyseven Iowa counties received CTCL funding ranging from $5,000 to $1.9 million per county leading up to the 2020 general election, which clearly illustrates unequal distribution of funding. I support legislation that only allows public funding of our general elections.
02-16-2022
Michael Bayer []
I support this bill. In particular, I am strongly in support of the ban on private funds for public election administration. Using private funds for public election administration is like the fox guarding the henhouse. Private funds can easily sway the administration of elections. Multiple studies have shown that the funds from the Center for Tech and Civic Life and other activist nonprofit organizations fueled by 100's of millions of dollars from Mark Zuckerberg and other wealthy liberals was given disproportionately in jurisdictions that voted for Biden in the 2020 election compared to Trump. We cannot allow this type of influence in our elections to undermine the confidence of the American people in our elections. I also support the efforts to insure the absentee ballots are submitted by the actual voter by requiring the voter identification number in multiple places on the envelopes associated with the absentee ballot. This helps to insure that the absentee voter's ballot is not hijacked by others. I support the publication by the county commissioner of the date, time and location of the postelection audit along with the announcement of the election. Please advance this bill to the full House State Government Committee.
02-16-2022
Vicki Aden []
I do support your efforts to standardize recount procedures. However, the portion of the bill that adds the requirement to include the voter verification number in addition to the affidavit signature when returning the absentee ballot seems to be one more attempt to erect barriers to people voting by mail. This is unnecessary (absentee ballot fraud in Iowa is extremely rare, if at all) as people are already signing the affidavit attesting to their identity and can be prosecuted if they are doing so fraudulently. Given the low instances of voter fraud in Iowa, I suspect you will be disenfranchising many more legitimate voters with this change than you will keep from voting fraudulently. The only reason for this additional requirement is to make it harder for people to vote by mail, by putting up another requirement that could result in rejection of their vote. Because the timeline to vote early was reduced in the last session, it is likely the only way to correct your ballot if it is missing this information will be to go to the auditor's office in person. This is not available to many Iowans, particularly seniors who may not drive. And who will be affected most by this new requirement? It will be Iowa seniors who no longer have a driver's license good luck finding your voter ID card with your 4digit PIN again or having to call the auditor's office again and hoping you wrote the numbers down correctly.How many more voters will be disenfranchised with this new and unnecessary requirement to voting by mail? Please remove this unnecessary burden to voting by mail.