Iowa House of Representatives passes amended absentee voting bill on a 95-2 vote

Republicans and Democrats in the Iowa House joined forces on Thursday to pass a bipartisan version of a bill which changes the way elections are handled in Iowa.

Republican State Representative Bobby Kaufmann of Wilton and Democratic State Representative Bruce Hunter of Des Moines presented an amended proposal which eliminated the most controversial parts of the Senate Republicans' bill.  The Iowa Senate early last week passed a version of the legislation which banned the Secretary of State from sending absentee ballot request forms to Iowa voters who had not requested such a form.  That version of the bill ran for 30 pages.  The Iowa House version covers seven pages.

Iowa set a record for voter turnout in the June 2nd primary after Secretary of State Paul Pate--a Republican--had sent out ballot request forms to every Iowa resident. 

The compromise House bill requires the Secretary of State to seek approval from a bipartisan group of lawmakers from both parties in the House and Senate.

The House bill now goes back to the Senate, where Strawberry Point State Senator Michael Breitbach was one of the Republicans voting for the original wording.   Says Breitbach, "There was no oversight over what Secretary Pate did. If he would have said we are reducing early voting from 29 days to 5, would have everyone been so overjoyed that the Secretary had that much unfettered power? The House amended our bill and I expect it will pass."