Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate releases statement criticizing "misinformation being pushed out in the media by political partisans about the Iowa House District 55 election"

Posted: Wed, Dec 12, 2018 8:43 AM

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate has released a statement on the House District 55 election, saying "There is a lot of misinformation being pushed out in the media by political partisans about the Iowa House District 55 election."

Pate says since the 33 disputed ballots in Winneshiek County arrived after Election Day, without postmarks and without the Intelligent Mail barcode imprinted by the county auditor, they are not eligible to be counted under Iowa law. The U.S. Postal Service--using bar codes at the bottom of the mailed ballots instead of the Intelligent Mail barcodes--stated that 29 of the 33 ballots were mailed before the November 6th election.

In his statement, Pate also notes, "Every absentee ballot envelope in Iowa includes a clear disclaimer that 'POSTMARKS ARE NOT GUARANTEED."

Pate concludes his statement by saying, "As Secretary of State, I swear an oath to uphold the Constitution and Laws of the State of Iowa, and I support every eligible vote being counted. Trying to change the rules after an election is not the way elections work in Iowa. In addition, this office and the Winneshiek County Auditor have complied with the district court order in all respects."

A hearing will be held next Thursday, December 20th, in Des Moines to gather testimony in the case, so Polk County Judge Scott Beattie can rule on whether the 29 disputed ballots should be added to the vote totals in Iowa House District 55.