Last Friday the 13th a long-running battle to bring controversial voter purges to Iowa ended after Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate declined to continue an appeal launched by his predecessor, Matt Schultz, and the case was dismissed from the Iowa Supreme Court.
In a statement, Pate said he voluntarily declined to continue the appeal after consulting with the Attorney General’s Office and will focus now on “building the most accurate voter registration list for Iowa.”
“I will use my authority to the fullest extent of state and federal law to ensure accurate voter lists,” Pate said. “There are other ways to accomplish the same goal without pursuing a course with significant legal hurdles.”
“This is an important victory for the protection of voters’ rights in Iowa,” said Rita Bettis, legal director of the ACLU of Iowa. “It means that Iowans will not have to worry about the voter purges we’ve seen take effect in other states with a disastrous impact, especially for new U.S. citizens and Latinos.”
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Jeremy Rosen, ACLU of Iowa executive director, said “This case is part of a broader effort nationally to push back on unfair voting restrictions by politicians that make it harder for people to vote, who are more likely to be minorities, poor people, the elderly, students, and people with disabilities.”
Indeed we must continue pushing back, as it becomes harder to distinguish between margins of victory and margins of disenfranchisement, and as we honor the legacies of Bloody Sunday and the Voting Rights Act.