Bleeding Heartland
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 Bleeding Heartland

Michael Mauro, 2007-2011

(One of the biggest disappointments on a disappointing night. - promoted by desmoinesdem)

Michael Mauro was a good Secretary of State. He was always interested in our elections. He failed to win his own re-election.

Before Mauro our Secretary was Chet Culver. Culver used his time to become well-known around the state, saying “get out and vote” at every opportunity. The publicity this created was for him as much as for the elections he advertised. Who could be against voting? He used his name recognition to run for Governor.

But Culver left a mess in the elections department. He failed to stop dozens of counties from adopting paperless touchscreen voting machines, ignoring experts who warned against them. Some counties had two entirely different systems in each polling place–a touchscreen plus a paper system as well.

Having been a county auditor himself in Iowa's largest county, Mauro came to the state job with experience and credibility. He dumped the touchscreens soon after his 2006 election. He later created a system for sending ballots overseas that was named best in the USA. He was so respected by Iowa's county auditors that many of them took the unusual step of endorsing his re-election.

Four years in a low profile job is not enough to gain name recognition. Yesterday Iowa's conservative voters kept all the incumbents they recognized except one (Governor Culver). They also passed over the guy they didn't recognize (Mike Mauro). I'm sure they meant no ill will. Thank you, Michael Mauro.

cross posted from IowaVoters.org 

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IowaVoter

6 Comments

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  • You are right.

    He did an excellent job.  This is an important position and I hope the systems he leaves in place will be sufficient to counter the politicization of government functions that seems to be among the primary goals of the GOP.

    2laneia  Thu 4 Nov 10:14 AM

    • I hope so too

      I doubt they will try to change course on paper ballots, especially with so many close races in the Iowa House and Senate.

      Now that the Iowa GOP finally banked a lot of early votes, I don’t think they will try to significantly restrict early voting. In the old days, Republicans resisted every effort to make it easier for people to vote early.

      I wonder whether they will try to repeal same-day registration–if so, I hope we have the votes to block that in the Senate.

      Probably Republicans will pass a voter ID law–the best we can hope for is to include provisions for the state to provide everyone with a free photo ID.

      From a purely selfish perspective, I hope Schultz doesn’t screw up the Secretary of State’s website, ranked best in the nation by the Pew Center on the States.  

      desmoinesdem  Thu 4 Nov 10:35 AM

  • surprising comment from Branstad Friday

    during his Iowa Public Television appearance:

    Andy Dufflemeyer from IowaPolitics.com asked the question: “You talked a lot about the importance of elected the entire Republican team. Will there be spots in your administration for Brenna Findley and Dave Jamison?”

    Branstad responded: “Yes, I think there’s a possibility for them.  I think there’s also a possibility for Mike Mauro.  I think he was a very good secretary of state. I called Mike to offer my condolences and I think he’s a very capable individual that I certainly want to consider as well.  I would also say Rob Roberts is another person I’ve talked to as a possible position. I want to reach out to capable, talented people of all backgrounds that I think could play a key role in state government. I want to use their talent as best to serve the needs of the people of Iowa.”

    I would be impressed if he hired Mauro for a significant position. Now I’m less surprised the Iowa GOP didn’t go all in for Matt Schultz.

    desmoinesdem  Thu 4 Nov 12:47 PM

    • Schultz on radio

      All Branstad needed to do was hear Schultz on the WHO radio talk show pushing his voter fraud story.  That day Schultz was immature, cavalier, and irresponsible.  The opposite of Mauro.

      iowavoter  Thu 4 Nov 4:15 PM

      • well, Branstad isn't known

        for insisting on competence or rejecting incendiary rhetoric. If he were, he wouldn’t be so keen on Brenna Findley.

        desmoinesdem  Thu 4 Nov 4:48 PM

  • what a terrible week for Mauro

    On top of everything else, his house was burglarized.

    Secretary of State Michael Mauro lost his bid for reelection on Tuesday night and when he arrived home at about 1:30 Wednesday morning, Mauro discovered his home had been ransacked by burglars.

    “They tried to take my TV off the wall and they were unsuccessful, but they did some damage pulling that out and went through the house and took some jewelry and credit cards and birth certificates and passports and all that stuff,” Mauro says. “They were in a little safety deposit box, and they walked off with that.”

    Mauro guesses the thieves were looking for cash. “Just like you’d see if you were on TV, they went through all the rooms and threw all the stuff around, but they didn’t really vandalize the house other than just going through the draws and throwing stuff around,” Mauro says.

    desmoinesdem  Fri 5 Nov 7:07 AM

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