Iowa Election Security Safeguards

Every state has laws and rules that protect the integrity of the election process before, during, and after voting takes place. Here are some of Iowa’s key safeguards.

Iowa has rigorous checks in place to maintain clean voter rolls and ensure that voting systems are secure and accurate. 

• As an initial protection against ineligible registrations, federal law requires that registrants provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number when registering to vote for the first time.
• Federal law requires election officials to remove anyone from the voter rolls who has died, moved, or otherwise become ineligible. In Iowa, if a voter hasn’t voted or contacted election officials in four years, officials must mail them a notice requesting address confirmation or correction. If the notice is returned as undeliverable, the voter’s registration becomes inactive. If they do not vote or contact officials for another two general elections, they will be removed from the rolls. State law also directs the state registrar of vital statistics to submit quarterly reports of people who have died within the state, and requires local election officials to match their voter rolls to these lists and cancel the registration of any deceased voters.
• Iowa requires all voting systems to be tested by independent labs to check that they meet security standards.
• Election officials must perform logic and accuracy tests on all voting systems and allow the public to observe and participate in the tests. Logic and accuracy tests verify that voting systems are programmed to interpret voter markings and report vote totals accurately, before any voter casts a ballot.

Iowa has layers of safeguards to protect voting processes and ensure that only eligible voters can cast ballots.

• There is a paper record of every vote cast. Most voters hand-mark paper ballots, whether voting in person or by mail. Polling places also offer accessible voting systems with verifiable paper records for voters with disabilities.
• In Iowa, precinct election boards manage election processes including distributing ballots and counting votes. State law requires that these boards consist of no more than a simple majority of members from the same party.
• All mail ballot envelopes must contain the voter’s signature. Under Iowa state law, election officials must compare the signature to the one on file for that voter. 
• If a signature is missing or does not match the signature listed on file, election officials must promptly notify the voter. To ensure their ballot is counted, voters must request a replacement ballot or fill out an affidavit in person. 
• Voters can track their mail ballot and receive notifications when their mail ballot is sent and received by the election office.

Iowa’s safeguards do not end on election night. In the weeks after polls close, election officials go through a series of checks to confirm that vote totals are complete and accurate before certifying final results.

• When polls close, Iowa requires bipartisan teams of poll workers to print and sign results reports from each tabulator, showing the number of ballots cast and results, before any results are transmitted to the election office.
• After ballots are initially counted, election officials review and reconcile a variety of records, including tabulator results tapes and polling place records that show the number of voters who checked in and number of ballots issued. 
• Iowa state law requires a hand count audit of a sample of ballots from all contests. The process must be open to observation from the two political parties with the most registered voters.