Political Quotes

“Madam President, Iowa's secretary of state Paul Pate will mail an absentee ballot request form to every registered Iowa voter for the November election. This is a request form, not a ballot, being mailed out to everybody. Iowa's current absentee ballot system allows anyone who wants to vote by mail the option to do so. Just send in the request form when you receive it, or you may download it online, but if Iowans prefer to vote in person, that remains their choice. There has been a lot of misinformation claiming that some massive, Federal intervention is needed to allow citizens to vote by mail. This isn't true in Iowa or elsewhere. Every State has vote-by-mail, and 16 States ask for a reason, such as being over 65, for example, but most have waived or loosened this requirement. Some groups are now using the pandemic to push for a Federal mandate on States to adopt a new, universal vote-by-mail system overnight. It took 5 years when Washington State implemented voting by mail. Requiring every State to replace its current voting system with a whole new, centralized, mail-only system this close to our November election is a recipe for disaster. In such a system, every registered voter, including those who have died or moved away, would automatically be mailed a ballot with no voting in person. Every Iowan who wants to vote absentee in November can do so, and those who want to vote in person can also do so safely. It is a voter's choice and should remain so I yield the floor.…”