The Iowa Legislature has passed an election reform law, which specifies early voting times, poll hours, and absentee ballot rules. Included in the bill is changing the number of early voting days from 29 to 20, sets poll closing times to 8pm across the state rather than the current 9pm cutoff which varies by county, and absentee ballots have to arrive by poll close in order to be counter rather than just placed in the mail by election day. State Senator Julian Garrett who voted in favor of the bill tells KNIA News he thinks Iowa’s 2020 election was handled appropriately, but he thinks that voter remorse is a good reason to make changes to early voting.

“In the last election we had people wanting to change their ballots as they had changed their mind. They voted way out early and then things came along, events happened, and there were people wanting to change their votes which they couldn’t do of course. So that would be another reason if you have a shorter period there will be a less chance for voter remorse.”

The bill also allows felony criminal charges or fines to be filed against any county auditor who doesn’t follow the direction from the Iowa Secretary of State. Hear more on today’s Let’s Talk Indianola.