Incumbent Secretary of State Paul Pate wins fourth term

Republican Paul Pate has secured his fourth term as Iowa’s top elections official, according to unofficial election results.

Pate defeated Democratic challenger Joel Miller, the Linn County auditor, with about 60% of the vote. Miller earned 40% of the vote.

"I believe the voters support my message and what I worked very hard on, which was to ensure the integrity of the election," Pate said Tuesday evening.

The Iowa secretary of state oversees elections, supervises the 99 county auditors and provides business services.

Running elections has become even more fraught after former President Donald Trump stoked unfounded accusations of election rigging in other states following his 2020 loss.

As he takes on another term overseeing Iowa's elections, Pate said his priority remains in debunking debunk misinformation and disinformation.

"I want to make sure that when Election Day wraps up and they look at results, they need to believe those results are accurate," Pate said.

The candidates, who have each spent more than a decade working on Iowa's elections, clashed in their current roles and throughout the campaign up through Election Day, when Miller failed to place the names of two candidates on the ballot for a Linn County Board of Supervisors race. Miller pushed back by pointing out Pate failed to put the pro-gun constitutional amendment on the ballot during the 2020 election.

Last year, Republican lawmakers passed a sweeping elections bill that reduced the state's early voting period and closed polls earlier on Election Day. Although the secretary of state never formally lobbied for or against the bill, Pate said the policy would no be "a significant detriment to any of the election process." During the campaign, Miller objected to that measure.

Miller disagreed, and proposed ambitious changes to Iowa's voting process, the option to request absentee ballots permanently, rather than for each election.

Michaela Ramm covers health care for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at mramm@registermedia.com, at (319) 339-7354 or on Twitter at @Michaela_Ramm.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Incumbent Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate wins reelection