The chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa had a news conference earlier today to denounce a bill pending in the legislature which would change the way Iowa's Electoral College votes are cast. Democrats in the legislature are pressing for the change. Now, Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro is joining Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn in urging his fellow Democrats to dump the bill. Read the news release from Mauro's office below.
STATEMENT FROM SECRETARY OF STATE MAURO ON POPULAR VOTE BILL
DES MOINES – Secretary of State Michael A. Mauro issued the following statement regarding recent discussion of the popular vote bill:
“I caution lawmakers in leading a charge to adopt a resolution that could be detrimental to Iowa and our important role in choosing the President of the United States. Our nation’s current Electoral College system was created to protect less populated states like Iowa to ensure we were included in the process.
“As we know, Iowa plays a very important role not only in the nomination process but also during the General Election. In the past twenty years Iowa has been a battleground state in determining our president. There’s a reason each party’s nominee visited our state days before Election Day – because our state still mattered.
“I believe if this were to play out, it would have a dramatic effect. Under this proposal, it is hard to foresee Iowa maintaining its dominate role and expect candidates to spend their final hours campaigning in our state when they will be focused on capturing the popular vote in much larger states.
“As I see it, toying with our nation’s current system could only have a negative effect on Iowa’s historically important role."
About O.Kay Henderson
Kay is a founding member of the Radio Iowa network newsroom. In 1994, she became the network’s news director. She’s a featured reporter and commentator on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press,” and the 2002 recipient of the Shelley Award.
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