A wide-ranging election bill sits on Governor Kim Reynolds’ desk, which the Washington County Auditor points out was strongly opposed by the Iowa State Association of County Auditors.

The bill proposes many changes for absentee and poll voting with greater sanctions on county auditors, including shortening the period of mailing absentee ballots and early in-person voting from the current 29 days to 20 days before an election, closing election day polls an hour earlier at 8 p.m., requiring that mailed absentee ballots be in election officials’ hands by 8 p.m. on Election Day instead of the postmark date with some exceptions, and moving up the deadline for requesting an absentee ballot and for voter preregistration to 15 days before Election Day instead of the current 10 days. Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer (R) says the shortened period for mailing absentee ballots and for his office to be able to contact voters to correct ballot issues is going to have a large impact on his staff, “There’s going to be some overtime hours, there’s going to be more Saturdays than what’s required at the present time. In broad terms it’s going to be a situation where we’re going to be expected to complete the same amount of work that we did for instance back in November but in a shorter time period, everything’s going to be condensed so it’s going to be a challenge.”

The bill also proposes felony charges for county election officials who don’t follow election guidance from the secretary of state, which Widmer questions whether that will also include poll workers. This legislation passed on party-line votes in the Republican controlled House and Senate a week after its introduction, following a record-breaking election turnout for Iowa last November. Republican lawmakers shortened the 29 day absentee mailing and in-person voting period from 40 days four years ago.