Poll worker training a priority for Iowa secretary of state heading into 2024 election

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is asking Iowa lawmakers to boost his office's budget so he can hire staff to improve training for poll workers ahead of the 2024 election.

Pate, a Republican, will also try again to push for legislation that standardizes the state's process for conducting election recounts, after a lengthy recount process resulted in a 2020 election victory of just six votes for U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

Iowa lawmakers will begin the 2024 legislative session on Monday.

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Paul Pate: Poll workers are 'secret weapon' for confidence in elections

Pate will be asking lawmakers to increase his office's budget by $440,000 to hire three new staffers and provide them with resources to travel around the state and help counties train poll workers.

Pate is also asking for legislation that would ensure poll workers in every county are trained to the same standards offered by the secretary of state's office.

"Whether you’re in Polk County or Linn County or Woodbury county or any other county in the state, you should all have the same core training, the same information, so all the poll workers are running the elections the same way," he said.

Pate said his goal is to make sure poll workers have the tools and the knowledge to be successful.

"We cannot afford — we cannot afford, I’ll say that twice — to have any doubt after an election of who the winner was," he said. "Because if that happens, our enemies, foreign or domestic … win without firing a single bullet, because democracy will have fallen when they don’t believe in the voting system."

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Pate praised Iowa's voting rules, including the state's voter ID law, its use of paper ballots and his office's efforts on cyber security. But he called poll workers "my secret weapon" when it comes to ensuring voter confidence in election integrity.

"These are not strangers. These are people who live in your neighborhood, go to your same church or go to the same grocery store," Pate said. "These are real people who are committed to being a part of making sure you have a successful elections experience. And we want to make sure they have the background to be able to get it done. That’s what we’re asking the Legislature to support."

He said his office worked hard to recruit poll workers for the 2020 election, when there were concerns that older poll workers who were at higher risk for COVID-19 might decide to sit out the election. He said those efforts were successful and he isn't concerned about having enough workers in 2024.

"I feel pretty good we’ve got enough poll workers lined up at this time, but I’m never going to say don’t volunteer because I think there’s always room for another new face," Pate said.

Election recount legislation would standardize process in Iowa

The election recount legislation Pate is supporting would require recounts to be conducted countywide, rather than precinct by precinct.

"It puts more consistency in the process," Pate said. "So it doesn’t matter what county you’re in, we know they’re following the same guidelines."

The legislation would also change the size of recount boards, allowing them to expand to five or seven members depending on the population of the county.

Currently, all Iowa recount boards are made up of three members — one designated by the apparent winner, another designated by the apparent loser and a third member mutually agreed upon by the other two.

Pate says he's 'the referee' and won't endorse a candidate in 2024

Pate said he will not endorse a candidate in the 2024 Republican caucuses or in the 2024 general election in November.

"I’m the referee and if I’m running elections I really should not be out there expressing my personal positions," Pate said. "Yes, I’ll caucus, yes, I’ll vote in the primary and yes, I’ll vote in the November election but I won’t be imposing my position on anyone. I think it’s far too important I focus on the mechanics and how we run our elections."

Pate said Iowans should have confidence in the state's election system. He said his office focuses on being transparent and dispelling myths about the election process to educate voters.

Asked about Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, Pate again praised Iowa's election process.

"I’ve been pretty consistent on challenging anyone who says our elections in Iowa specifically are not run correctly. And that won’t change," he said. "I’m not a national elected official so I don’t have a platform to run around for each state and speak to each state, but I will speak to Iowa and say unequivocally we’re doing it right and I’ve got 10,000 poll workers who help back me up on that."

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa secretary of state focuses on poll workers for 2024 election