Dopf Challenges Own Party
A recently announced Republican candidate for Iowa Secretary of State is urging the Iowa House of Representatives to pass a paper trail bill. Robert Dopf, a former federal prosecutor, is leaning on his own party to take immediate action, saying
“If you wouldn’t trust your money to a charity that refuses to perform an audit, why would you want to trust your vote to a system that has no independent means of verifying its accuracy?”
The bill supported by Dopf has already passed the state senate 48-0. It is being held hostage by Republicans in the House who could bring it out of committee at any time. If they don’t do so by Friday, the bill apparently falls victum to the “funnel” rules of the state legislature and will be dead for this session.
Here’s more of today’s press release from Dopf:
“If we are to maintain public confidence in the integrity and security of our voting processes it is imperative that we require that newly acquired electronic voting machines (DRE) have the ability to create a voter verified paper record for audit purposes,” Dopf said. “DRE machines currently being installed in 18 Iowa counties do not have this capability. Adoption of this security feature will help us avoid unwarranted challenges to the integrity of the voting process.”
The move to require a paper audit trail has been fueled in recent months by mounting evidence documenting the vulnerability of the DRE machines to malicious manipulations potentially altering the vote count.
“This is not a partisan issue. Every Iowan – Republican, Democrat or Independent – has a stake in ensuring we maintain a voting process in which we can have confidence,” Dopf. “And, we need a Secretary of State who is going to be focused on that issue every single day and capable of getting it done.”
That last sentence puts real pressure on the House Republicans. Dopf has reminded us that outgoing Secretary of State Chet Culver has been backing SF 351 but has not gotten it passed. Democrat Culver can claim to be the victum of the House Republicans, but Dopf is hinting he can get them to act. Let’s see if they snub him or make him look effective.