Changes in state law which kicked in on July 1 will make it harder to
challenge the qualifications of voters, a change which may affect the
efforts of Iowa Republicans to, as they've put it, "insure ballot
integrity." Ballot challenge programs are a relatively new feature to
Iowa politics. The number of challenged and provisional ballots have
risen dramatically since 2000, as the Democratic Party has ramped up
its absentee voter program to the point where some counties are now
seeing nearly half their ballots voted before Election Day. As one of
the closest states in the nation at the presidential level, and one of
only three states to switch sides between 2000 and 2004, efforts on
the margins can make the difference.

Labels: elections