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LISTEN: Wide-Ranging Election Bill Getting Fast-Tracked In Iowa Legislature

Early voting in Des Moines 11/1/20
File Photo
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IPR file
Among the changes proposed to Iowa's election laws is shortening the early and mail-in voting period from 29 days to 18.

IPR Morning Edition host Clay Masters talks with IPR state government reporter Katarina Sostaric about a flurry of activity at the Iowa statehouse last week and what is still under consideration this week.

Republicans, who control both the Iowa House and Senate, quickly advanced bills out of subcommittees and committees that would make major changes to Iowa’s early voting calendar, among other things. It would include shorten the early voting window from 29 days to 18, and would restrict county auditors’ ability to decide where to have early voting sites.

Masters discusses this bill with Sostaric along with other recent legislation, including K-12 public education funding and controversial approval of $21 million for Workday, a new personnel and accounting software program for the state.

Clay Masters
Clay Masters is the senior politics reporter for MPR News.
Katarina Sostaric is IPR's State Government Reporter, with expertise in state government and agencies, state officials and how public policy affects Iowans' lives. She's covered Iowa's annual legislative sessions, the closure of state agencies, and policy impacts on family planning services and access, among other topics, for IPR, NPR and other public media organizations. Sostaric is a graduate of the University of Missouri.