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 Bleeding Heartland

Cheating Determines Iowa's Elections, Schultz Implies

(Rhetoric like this is one reason voter ID laws undermine public confidence in the integrity of elections. - promoted by desmoinesdem)

Does any other Secretary of State agree with Iowa’s Matt Schultz–that abortion and gay marriage are legal because cheating determines election outcomes? Or is our Secretary of State saying Iowa has the worst elections in the nation?

In an astonishing, passionate speech to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition April 15, Shultz said the group could not advance its agenda because its opponents "cheat" at the polls. His solution?Voter ID cards, of course.

Schultz offered no evidence of such cheating. He charged that

we have a lot of forgetful Democratic Senators in the state of Iowa. They just don’t get it. . . . Why would somebody be against voter ID? WHY? It’s time to call a spade a spade. . . This about honesty and integrity–I’m an Eagle Scout–I think it’s important we have an Eagle Scout be Secretary of State.

Calling a spade a spade apparently means being ready to say Democrats win by cheating, which he soon said.

But first Eagle Scout Schultz went further, alleging, “They think that non-citizens should be able to vote. What planet are we living on?” He did not elaborate on exactly who thinks non-citizens should be able to vote, but he appeared to still be talking about Iowa Senate Democrats.

There are a whole lot of issues that we care about: abortion, gay marriage, a whole lot of social issues we care deeply about. But you have to start caring about voter ID and election integrity as well, because if you don’t have that, you’ll never be able to make a difference in any other issue you care about–never. Because they will cheat. They’ll cheat. And we need to make sure that we stop them.

In his quest for integrity the Scout ignored evidence that only a minority of Iowans back the views of his audience. Rather he told the audience that he needed their help in order to get his ID bill enacted, so that they could then get their issues enacted.

He also ignored the opinions of local county auditors, who have shown little support for his crusade. He ignored the principle report debunking the case for strict ID laws.

Schultz concluded that “we are here to protect our faith and our freedom, and we’ll do it at the voting box.”

Meanwhile 70% of Americans think the GOP is out of touch with reality. Our top Eagle Scout is evidence they are correct.

cross-posted at IowaVoters.org

Tags: 2014 Elections, Brad Anderson, Election Procedures, Iowa GOP, Matt Schultz, Photo ID, Statewide, Voter ID

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6 Comments

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  • classic straw man argument

    “They think that non-citizens should be able to vote.”

    1. No one is saying that.

    2. The non-citizens who have been charged with voting registered to vote when they obtained driver’s licenses, meaning that photo ID requirements would not have prevented them from voting.

    Similarly, the felons who allegedly voted improperly or registered to vote improperly would not have been stopped by photo ID requirements, because they had valid photo ID.  

    desmoinesdem  Thu 18 Apr 9:21 PM

  • Brad Anderson

    the only declared Democratic candidate for secretary of state in 2014, responded to Schultz here. Excerpt:

    This week, before a group of conservative activists, Matt Schultz finally made his motives for Voter-ID clear: It’s about winning.  Not “election integrity,” but winning elections and pushing an agenda. […]

    But he knows, as well as I do, that Iowans are not cheaters. More than 1.5 million Iowans voted in the 2012 election, and not a single one has been convicted of knowingly casting a fraudulent vote. And yet Schultz wants to change the way our elections are run and implement Voter ID. Not to stop cheating — to “make a difference” on “social issues.” […]

    Using the Secretary of State’s office to pass a partisan agenda has no place in Iowa, period.

    Voter fraud is something we should all take very seriously, and I will do so as Secretary of State. A democracy that doesn’t ensure clean elections is a democracy in name only. We must remain vigilant against any type of fraud, but we should also understand that any suggestion that Iowa is a state full of chronic “cheaters” is based purely on fear and partisanship, not on facts.

    Meanwhile, a half-million registered Iowans did not cast a vote in the 2012 election.  A big difference between Matt Schultz and myself is that I believe we have too few Iowans voting, not too many.

    desmoinesdem  Fri 19 Apr 8:26 AM

  • Other remarks

    There was something else Secretary Schultz said that really ticked me off. He, echoing the rhetoric from right wing blogs, called Brad Anderson “a political hack who is not even from Iowa.”

    Brad has lived here since at least 2004, yes? What does Schultz consider the cutoff point for being “from” Iowa?

    He’s going down and he’s going to fight dirty the whole way.

    greghauenstein  Fri 19 Apr 9:36 AM

  • voter ID

    So, has Iowa passed this law requiring a photo ID?  I went to vote in my local school election. And there was a sign up that said, “please show photo ID.”  I asked the person there,  “Do we have to show an ID to vote?”  And she said, “Oh not in the local school elections.”  I didn’t think to ask her if we need a photo ID to vote in general elections.    I live in O’Brien county,  and in order to get a photo ID from the county,  I’d have to drive about 20 miles to get to the county seat.  Its not a problem for me,  but I would imagine in this small town,  there are people that would find it difficult.  Well,  I’m #126 Democrat  and the Republicans number over 7000,  so I guess in my county it doesn’t much matter,  except for the fact that the right to vote should be for everyone.  

    wahela712  Tue 6 Aug 8:08 PM

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