ACLU Warns Iowa County Auditors to Follow Law in the Face of Requests for Mass Voter Removals Shortly Before Election

DES MOINES, Iowa — The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Iowa have sent letters to all county auditors in Iowa and the Iowa Secretary of State to ensure they follow state and federal laws that prevent them from removing registered voters from their voting lists shortly before the election.

The letter is sparked by challenges to Iowa voters from private parties outside of government asking for the voter registration cancellation of thousands of voters in Johnson, Muscatine, and Pottawattamie counties. Some voters have already had their registrations wrongfully canceled shortly before the election.

The Iowa Secretary of State's office is also spotting large numbers of improper challenges to Iowa voter registrations across the state. In an October 23 email to county auditors and county attorneys, it reminded them of the 70-day freeze period specified in Iowa law (Iowa Code 48A.14) that details how a registered voter in a county may challenge the registration of other voters.

For this year's election, challenges to a voter registration, under federal law, can't be processed by a county auditor's office on or after August 7 (90 days). Iowa law additionally prohibits processing on or after August 27 (70 days), until after the election.

These Iowa mass voter challenges are being submitted amid a rise in efforts around the country by groups looking to destabilize a fair and orderly course of the election by challenging voters’ eligibility on a massive scale, which we’re now seeing in Iowa.

These unwarranted mass challenges ask election officials to remove a very large number of registered voters based on outside sources of outdated and unreliable information.

It's important to note that these requests for mass removal of Iowa voters from the voter registration lists is separate from the Iowa Secretary of State directive issued last week to county auditors to have poll workers challenge more than 2,200 registered voters based on citizenship.

The ACLU letter 1) reminds county auditors that state and federal law prohibits removals of this nature right before an election, when there is too little time for qualified voters to prove their eligibility and 2) urges them to reinstate any voters they may have improperly removed.

State voting law specifies that for the November 5, 2024, election, county officials must postpone processing voter challenges like these made on or after August 27 until after the election. Federal voting law also generally prohibits these types of voter purges on or after August 7 of this year (90 days ahead of the election).

These state and federal laws are intended to fend off exactly this type of attempted voter purge that is likely to incorrectly push out eligible voters without giving them enough time to defend their eligibility.

ACLU of Iowa Legal Director Rita Bettis Austen said, “These appear to be the type of malicious, mass voter challenges by individuals and groups who want to disrupt the election. Such challenges result from flawed efforts to match up the voter file with incomplete or unreliable and often outdated sources of information. They are not based on any personal knowledge about voters and they’re meant to create a false narrative about voter fraud. The strong safeguards in state and federal law against these efforts exist for a reason. It’s sad and frankly outrageous that these efforts may be taking place in Iowa."

She added, "But what is most important here is that Iowa voters know that state and federal laws protect them from these efforts and that fortunately, our Iowa election officials know that. We want Iowa voters to take heart and exercise their right to vote with confidence. Our democracy depends on all of us."

For more information, the ACLU of Iowa has easy-to-use web content for Iowans on how to vote and their right to vote at aclu-ia.org/vote.

Read the letter in full here.