Iowa Republicans are suing to restore the state’s signature verification requirements on absentee voter ballots, reviving a long-running election law dispute as Iowa faces a competitive midterm election.
The Republican National Committee is backing the lawsuit, which the Iowa GOP filed on Thursday, July 30, in Polk County District Court.
The suit seeks to lift a 2019 injunction, which resulted from lawsuit between the League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa and Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate. The injunction blocked Iowa’s signature verification requirements for absentee ballots. Republicans call the requirement a “commonsense safeguard” to verify absentee voters.
If the injunction is lifted, election officials could more easily toss out absentee ballots if they can’t match a voter’s signature with the one on their voter registration. If Republicans prevail in court and fewer absentee ballots are counted, it could influence the outcome of close races in the Nov. 3 general election.
“Iowans deserve secure elections — period. That means protecting absentee ballots with commonsense safeguards that prevent fraud and ensure every legal vote is counted,” Iowa GOP spokesperson Jade Cichy said in a statement. “While Democrats blocked these requirements years ago, the Republican Party of Iowa is fighting to put it back.”
The suit comes as Iowa features some of the nation’s most targeted federal races.
The state’s open Senate race for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Joni Ernst is seen as one of Democrats’ best pickup opportunities to clinch a narrow Senate majority.
Elections analysts consider Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional District contests toss-ups, and the 2nd District race is seen as increasingly competitive as Democrats seek to flip control of the House.
GOP has increasingly targeted mail-in voting
Mail-in voting has been under siege since a record number of Americans voted by mail in 2020 after Democratic and Republican states alike made it easier to fill out ballots remotely at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Unsubstantiated claims of mail ballot fraud became a popular rallying cry among Republican President Trump’s supporters who believe the 2020 election was “stolen.”
Research has shown voter fraud is extremely rare and hasn’t occurred on a scale that would sway the outcome of an election, nor have studies shown that voting by mail increases the risk of fraud.
The Trump administration on July 27 asked the Supreme Court to let the president tighten rules nationwide for mail-in ballots. He filed an emergency appeal after lower courts blocked the administration from creating a federal list of eligible voters and limiting delivery of mail ballots only to people on that list.
In 2024, the Republican National Committee and its lawyers got involved in dozens of state and federal lawsuits seeking to influence the laws and procedures governing the general election in major battleground states during a presidential election year.
Many cases targeted how absentee ballots are processed and who should be removed from voter rolls.
Why did the court pause 2017 law’s signature verification requirements?
The court injunction blocked a 2017 Iowa law that lets election officials dispute ballots with signatures that don’t match the voter’s signature on record.
The law, House File 519, directed county auditors to implement procedures to verify voter identity by requiring voters to provide identification documents. County auditors had to compare signatures on voter affidavits at polling places and on absentee ballot envelope affidavits.
At the time, several county auditors said they would not enforce the signature verification procedure.
The judge ruled there was a risk of inconsistent enforcement and found the signature matching provisions violated the Iowa Constitution’s due process and equal protection clauses. The ruling blocked the state from requiring voters to include an identification number when requesting a ballot.
LULAC called the 2019 ruling a victory against voter suppression and said it would strengthen Latino turnout for the 2020 election.
Republicans say Iowa law changes undermine basis to keep injunction in place
In the petition seeking to lift the injunction, Republicans contend that because of the pause, absentee voting “lacks the same safeguards to ensure the voter’s identity as does in-person voting on Election Day.”
Republicans say changes in Iowa law and recent Iowa Supreme Court decisions since the injunction have undercut the legal argument for keeping the pause in place.
Iowa’s 2021 and 2025 election law overhauls gave the secretary of state more authority to issue rules that require uniform enforcement of these provisions through “appropriately drafted administrative rules that require each county commissioner of elections to implement uniform standards for signature matching,” the petition argues.
“Voters deserve confidence that Iowa’s elections are secure and that absentee ballots are protected against fraud,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said in a statement. “Democrats fought to block this commonsense safeguard years ago. Now, the RNC is leading the effort to restore signature verification, secure absentee voting and strengthen confidence in Iowa’s elections. We won’t stop fighting until this critical election integrity measure is back in place.”
LULAC Iowa maintains signature matching is a barrier to ballot access
LULAC Iowa’s state political director Joe Henry said the organization will alert voters and consult attorneys to determine next steps.
Henry said signature matching is unreliable and unwarranted while other safeguards and forms of voter verification exist. He accused Republicans of “trying to throw some mud on the wall in hopes that it will stick” and cause confusion before the election.
“Signature matching doesn’t protect elections,” Henry said. “It puts a stranger’s guess between an eligible Iowan and their ballot, and that guess falls hardest on voters least likely to have a matching signature on file, such as naturalized citizens and older voters, voters with disabilities and Latino Iowans who vote absentee in large numbers.”
USA Today contributed to this article.
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Republican lawsuit renews Iowa battle over absentee voter verification
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
