The Hartley Sentinel-The Everly/Royal News - Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties

There was a time when Iowa's election laws shone as a bright beacon of democracy to our peers in other states. Thanks to dubious actions by the state Legislature, the Hawkeye State has fallen far from grace.

Gov. Kim Reynolds this month signed legislation cutting the state's early voting period and closing the polls an hour earlier on Election Day. This was by no means a bipartisan agreement, as the law was passed on strict party lines in both the House and Senate. Reynolds, a Republican, happily gave it her signature despite vocal pushback from county election officials.

Democrats argued the law unnecessarily restricts voters from casting ballots while Republicans say the bill was needed to reduce the risk of voter fraud. Since there is little to no evidence of intentional voter fraud at either the state or federal levels, you might be scratching your head right now. Republicans, who often bemoan the evils of government red tape and unnecessary rules, seems to have added more of each with this bill.

As per the Des Moines Register, here's what the law does:

• Cuts Iowa's early voting period from 29 days to 20. Polls will now close at 8 p.m. for state and federal elections instead of 9 p.m.

• Absentee ballots must now arrive at county auditors' offices by the time polls close in order to be counted. Previously, ballots placed in the mail the day before Election Day could be counted as long as they arrived by noon the following Monday.

• County auditors are now stripped of much of their discretion in running elections in their counties. They may no longer establish satellite in-person early voting sites unless petitioned to do so by residents, and they may not mail absentee ballot request forms to voters unless a voter asks for one.

• It is now a felony for auditors, or any other election officials, to fail to carry out state election laws or to violate guidance from the Iowa secretary of state. Auditors could also face fines of up to $10,000 for "technical infractions" of their duties.

• It limits who can return a voter's absentee ballot. Only the voter, an immediate family member, household member or caregiver may return the ballot to the auditor's office or place it in the mail. Previously, anyone the voter designated could deliver the ballot on the voter's behalf, but the new law makes it a serious misdemeanor for any unauthorized person to do so.

This law was passed a mere four months after Iowans turned out in record numbers during the November 2020 election. In case you forgot, Republicans overwhelming carried local and state offices, and former President Donald bested Joe Biden by eight points. There were no allegations or charges of voter fraud, either.

Indeed, the numbers last fall were astounding: 1.7 million voters participated in the election, which represented nearly 76 percent turnout. More than 1 million people voted absentee by returning ballots through the mail, dropping them off or filling them out at early voting sites. According to data from the Iowa Secretary of State's Office, more than 80 percent of registered Democrats and 54 percent of registered Republicans who participated in the election did so through absentee voting, while Republicans dominated among Election Day voters.

If the pandemic proved anything, it was that our system not only works, but it works well. This new law doesn't strengthen the integrity of Iowa's voting regulations because they were already strong. At best, state Republicans are trying to fix something that's not broken. At worst, they are trying to suppress turnout through unnecessarily restrictive rules that build barriers to voting instead of bridges.