Joel Miller wins Democratic primary to face Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate

Linn County Auditor Joel Miller, who attracted a lawsuit and national attention for his attempts to make voting easier in 2020, defeated Eric Van Lancker in the Democratic primary for Iowa secretary of state.

Miller boasted a large lead over Van Lancker as the Associated Press declared him the winner, according to unofficial results Tuesday night.

Miller will face Paul Pate, Iowa's secretary of state since 2015, in November. Pate previously held the job for a single term three decades ago before an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1998.

Miller, the Linn auditor since 2007, made national headlines in 2020 when he mailed out 140,000 absentee ballot request forms filled in with voter information like names and dates of birth.

He said the forms would encourage residents in Iowa's second-largest county to vote despite the health risks of the COVID-19 pandemic. But the pre-filled forms ran against policy laid out by Pate, who told county auditors they could only mail blank request documents.

Election results: See Iowa primary election results across the state

President Donald Trump's re-election campaign sued Linn County over Miller's move, and the Iowa Supreme Court ultimately sided with the Republicans.

Miller, 66, clashed with Pate again that year when he placed ballot drop boxes in front of three Hy-Vee stores in Cedar Rapids. Pate told county auditors they could only place drop boxes in front of government offices. Miller removed the boxes.

If elected, Miller said he would advocate for more ballot drop boxes around the state, for automatic registration of all 17 year olds and for allowing Iowans to request absentee ballots online.

"My chief motto is, 'Make voting easy again,'" Miller said Tuesday night. "My platform is pretty simple."

He added that his 2020 legal fights appealed to voters.

"The people saw that I wasn't afraid to take the fight to the secretary of state or to the Trump organization or to Republicans," he said.

Van Lancker, Clinton County's auditor since 2009, argued he would be more appealing to moderate voters. He played up his experience with rural and Republican voters, pointing out that he had won re-election in 2016 even as a plurality of Clinton County residents cast presidential ballots for Republican Trump. No Republican challenged Van Lancker in 2020.

Election results: See Iowa primary election results across the state

Van Lancker, 53, said he could lead changes in election laws, given how well connected he is with local election officials. He is the former president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors, and his campaign website listed endorsements from 13 county auditors.

If elected, he said he would pre-file legislation to roll back some changes to election laws that Republicans passed in 2020. Van Lancker also said he would expand the number of days when voters can cast absentee ballots.

Van Lancker said Tuesday night that he will support Miller in the general election. He didn't know why his message didn't appeal to voters as strongly as Miller's did.

"We certainly worked hard," he said. "I'm very proud of my time, all of my supporters, everyone who endorsed me. We're just sorry that we couldn't bring this home."

Van Lancker vastly outraised Miller during the campaign, reporting about $77,000 in donations from September through last week. Miller reported $5,000 in donations. He said he aims to raise $1 million by November.

Tyler Jett covers jobs and the economy for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at tjett@registermedia.com, 515-284-8215, or on Twitter at @LetsJett.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Joel Miller wins Iowa secretary of state Democratic primary