A judge in Iowa ordered 50,000 absentee ballot requests to be voided after President Donald Trump’s campaign argued a county elections commissioner acted improperly when he sent the requests out with voter’s personal information already filled out.
Judge Ian Thornhill issued a temporary injunction, The Associated Press reported, which requires Linn County Auditor Joel Miller “to notify voters in writing that the forms should not have been pre-filled with their information and cannot be processed.”
When Miller sent absentee ballot request forms to 140,000 voters in July, personal information – including names, dates of birth, even voter identification numbers – were already filled out. Miller, a Democrat, violated a “clear directive” from Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, who said in July that county officials must provide blank absentee ballot request forms to voters, Thornhill ruled.
Miller said he was just trying to make voting easier by having the information already filled out, including the four-digit voter identification numbers that most people don’t know. Republicans argued that having voters fill out their own forms would make absentee voting more secure.
Democrats argue otherwise, claiming that such requirements will “disenfranchise” voters and lead to suppression.