DES MOINES, Iowa – Judicial Watch, a conservative watch dog group based in Washington, D.C., claimed on Monday that eight Iowa counties have voter registrations numbers larger than the eligible voter population.
According to Judicial Watch’s analysis of data released by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) in 2019 and the most recent U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year American Community Survey, they say eight Iowa counties are on their list of 378 counties nationwide that have more voter registrations than citizens living there who are old enough to vote.
They claim Dallas, Johnson, Lyon, Madison, Poweshiek, Dickinson, Scott, and Warren counties are counties where registration rates exceed 100 percent of the voting age population.
They also said Polk County, Iowa’s largest, has an unusually high registration rate of 95.9% of total eligible citizen voting-age population.
“Dirty voting rolls can mean dirty elections and Iowa need to undertake a serious effort to address its voting rolls,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
The Iowa Secretary of State’s office said official data shows that Judicial Watch’s claims are false.
“It’s unfortunate this organization continues to put out inaccurate data regarding voter registration, and it’s especially disconcerting they chose the day of the Iowa Caucus to do this,” Iowa Secretary of State Pate said. “My office has told this organization, and others who have made similar claims, that their data regarding Iowa is deeply flawed and their false claims erode voter confidence in elections. They should stop this misinformation campaign immediately and quit trying to disenfranchise Iowa voters.”
Iowa’s voter registration statistics are publicly available on the Secretary of State’s website. They are updated monthly. These numbers show the Iowa Secretary of State’s office says that the ones claimed by Judicial Watch in Monday’s news release are false.
They also note that along with false information about the voter registration numbers, Pate said Judicial Watch underestimated Iowa’s population according to actual data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office says stands with its county auditors and the methods they use to provide clean and accurate voter rolls.