Winneshiek County Supervisors are urging the Iowa Legislature to change the state's election laws

Winneshiek County Supervisors say delivery of absentee ballots to county courthouses by the day of the election "should be the only standard" used in Iowa.

By a 4-1 vote on Monday, with Supervisor John Beard dissenting, the county board voted to send a letter and resolution to Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.  The letter says that by allowing some absentee ballots received after polls close on Election Day to be counted is a problem because "the federal mail system fails to consistently mark all absentee ballot envelopes in a manner prescribed by Iowa Code."

The letter references the recent election in Iowa House District 55, where 29 absentee ballots which arrived after Election Day were not included in vote totals because the ballots did not bear a regular postmark or have an "Intelligent Mail Barcode."  The letter says, "those 29 ballots should serve as impetus to correct a glaring statutory defect for identifying absentee ballots that are eligible to be counted."

Supervisor John Beard argued that the letter to Governor Reynolds should include the possibility of using the Intelligent Mail Barcode system--if all 99 Iowa counties were required to use it.  He predicted any legislation which cut off the acceptance of absentee ballots after Election Day "won't get one Democratic vote."

But Supervisor Mark Kuhn said the Election Day cutoff was "the cleanest solution" and pointed out it was the one endorsed by Iowa's County Auditors.  Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines called it "a cut and dried solution."

Winneshiek County Supervisor Dean Thompson, who worked with Beard on the issue, said he had worked hard so there was no hint of partisanship in the wording of the letter.