DES MOINES – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is adding another layer of protection to Iowa’s electoral process by expanding post-election audits. All 99 counties will be required to conduct a hand count audit of two races following the November 2022 general election. Previously, they audited one race.

One randomly selected precinct in each county will hand count the votes for the Governor’s race to match with the ballot tabulators to ensure the accuracy of the vote. On November 9, the day after the election, Secretary Pate will announce an additional race in a randomly selected precinct in each county.

“This is being done to ensure Iowans of the integrity of the vote,” Secretary Pate said. “Our post-election audits consistently match the ballot tabulators perfectly. Adding another race to the process gives greater protection, transparency and security to the process. We want Iowans to know their vote counts.”

Every ballot tabulator in Iowa undergoes a public pre-election audit to ensure it will count votes accurately on Election Day. Post-election audits are mandatory in all 99 counties following each election.

For more information about election security in Iowa, visit the Secretary of State’s website at sos.iowa.gov. Information about casting your ballot is available at VoterReady.Iowa.gov.

Des Moines, IA – United States Attorney Richard D. Westphal announced today that Assistant United States Attorney Ryan Leemkuil will lead the efforts of his Office in connection with the Justice Department’s nationwide Election Day Program for the upcoming November 8, 2022, general election. AUSA Leemkuil has been appointed to serve as the District Election Officer (DEO) for the Southern District of Iowa, and in that capacity is responsible for overseeing the District’s handling of election day complaints of voting rights concerns, threats of violence to election officials or staff, and election fraud, in consultation with Justice Department Headquarters in Washington.

United States Attorney Richard Westphal said, “Every citizen must be able to vote without interference or discrimination and to have that vote counted in a fair and free election. Similarly, election officials and staff must be able to serve without being subject to unlawful threats of violence. The Department of Justice will always work tirelessly to protect the integrity of the election process.”

The Department of Justice has an important role in deterring and combating discrimination and intimidation at the polls, threats of violence directed at election officials and poll workers, and election fraud. The Department will address these violations wherever they occur. The Department’s longstanding Election Day Program furthers these goals and also seeks to ensure public confidence in the electoral process by providing local points of contact within the Department for the public to report possible federal election law violations.

Federal law protects against such crimes as threatening violence against election officials or staff, intimidating or bribing voters, buying and selling votes, impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, stuffing ballot boxes, and marking ballots for voters against their wishes or without their input. It also contains special protections for the rights of voters, and provides that they can vote free from interference, including intimidation, and other acts designed to prevent or discourage people from voting or voting for the candidate of their choice. The Voting Rights Act protects the right of voters to mark their own ballot or to be assisted by a person of their choice (where voters need assistance because of disability or inability to read or write in English).

The franchise is the cornerstone of American democracy. We all must ensure that those who are entitled to the franchise can exercise it if they choose, and that those who seek to corrupt it are brought to justice. In order to respond to complaints of voting rights concerns and election fraud during the upcoming election, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, AUSA Ryan Leemkuil will be on duty in this District while the polls are open. He can be reached by the public at the following telephone number: 515-473-9300.

In addition, the FBI will have special agents available in each field office and resident agency throughout the country to receive allegations of election fraud and other election abuses on election day. The local FBI field office can be reached by the public at 515-223-4278 (Des Moines).

Complaints about possible violations of the federal voting rights laws can be made directly to the Civil Rights Division in Washington, DC by phone at 800-253-3931 or by complaint form at https://civilrights.justice.gov/.
United States Attorney Westphal said, “Ensuring free and fair elections depends in large part on the assistance of the American electorate. It is important that those who have specific information about voting rights concerns or election fraud make that information available to the Department of Justice.”

Please note, however, in the case of a crime of violence or intimidation, please call 911 immediately and before contacting federal authorities. State and local police have primary jurisdiction over polling places, and almost always have faster reaction capacity in an emergency.

(Radio Iowa) -Iowa is the only state without a compassionate release program for prison inmates, ranking Iowa at the very bottom of a new report comparing state programs. They allow inmates, generally near the end of their lives, to apply for release due to factors like debilitating illnesses, injuries or age-related chronic conditions. Mary Price is general counsel for FAMM, a criminal justice reform advocacy group that issued the report. Price says keeping someone who is sick and near death in prison is not only costly for the state, but also can cause excessive suffering. Price says, “It means that people in Iowa will die in prison after incarceration has lost any meaning for them or for the people of Iowa.” Price says programs vary widely between states, but if it’s wanted, Iowa is well-positioned to build a program from the ground up and include a range of stakeholders.

Alison Guernsey directs the University of Iowa’s Federal Criminal Defense Clinic. Guernsey says one of the reasons it’s disappointing there’s no compassionate release program here is that it’s a poor reflection of Iowa’s justice system. “I think that mercy and second chances are really important philosophical things for us to embed in our judicial and legal systems,” Guernsey says, “and so it seems quite behind the times not to have a mechanism for just the mercy purposes.”

Two neighboring states received high marks in the report. Illinois earned an A, and Minnesota received a B-minus. Iowa’s other neighbors also failed, but scored more points than Iowa’s zero.

(reporting by Catherine Wheeler, Iowa Public Radio)

(Radio Iowa) – Just before today’s strike deadline, members of the Teamsters Union have approved a new, three-year contract for about 200 workers at the Archer Daniels Midland plant in Cedar Rapids.

According to Jesse Case, the Secretary-Treasurer of Teamster Local 238, the deal includes a $5000 ratification bonus and an immediate 6% across the board raise in the first year. In a statement posted on Facebook, Case said ADM’s “multi-billion dollar profit margin exists” because of “the labor and sweat of its workers: and the union would like to see higher wages for everyone in the industry.

In a written statement, an ADM spokesperson described the contract as “extremely competitive.” ADM’s plant in Cedar Rapids breaks corn kernels down into corn oil, corn starch and other byproducts.

(Radio Iowa) – Powerball tickets are a hot ticket in Iowa lately. There are about three-point-two million people living in Iowa, and the Iowa Lottery says the latest Powerball drawing saw two-point-six million dollars in sales, just within the state. That includes more than two-point-one million dollars in Iowa sales just on Monday.

The average spent per person was around six dollars, or three plays, which lottery officials say demonstrates people didn’t go overboard. 

There was no jackpot winner Monday night, so (as of Noon Tuesday) the big prize for Wednesday’s drawing is forecast to grow to one-point-two billion dollars, the game’s second-highest jackpot.

(Radio Iowa) – Ankeny-based Casey’s General Stores has more than doubled the number of electric vehicle charging stations at its retail locations this year and the company plans to add more in 2023. According to a company news release, Casey’s has 134 electric vehicle charging stations at 28 different locations in the Midwest and South. The C-E-O of Casey’s says the company is exploring a number of ways to provide guests with more lower carbon options, including biofuels and E-V charging stations.

Casey’s currently has charging stations at eight of its Iowa stores — in the cites of Altoona, Ankeny, Avoca, Carroll, Clarinda, Early, Emmetsburg and Sioux City.

According to the D-O-T, there are 270 public E-V charging spots in the state of Iowa and Casey’s accounts for eight percent of them.