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Staff photo/Derek Sullivan A packed Bayless Park Hall listened to Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz discuss his candidancy on Friday night. Ted Cruz rallied his troops Friday night in Council Bluffs. The Texas senator and Republican candidate for president stopped in downtown Council Bluffs to, among other things, compare himself to former president Ronald Reagan, attack current President Barack Obama, ignore current GOP Iowa Caucus poll leaders Ben Carson and Donald Trump, share career highlights and, most of all, raise money for his campaign by mentioning his website. The event was billed as a town hall, and Cruz did...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has chosen former Secretary of State Matt Schultz to chair his Iowa campaign in his bid for the Republican Party's nomination for president. Schultz, who currently serves as the Madison County attorney, supported Sen. Rick Santorum in his failed 2012 presidential campaign, though he won the Republican Iowa caucuses. "He is a consistent conservative who cares about liberty and won't back down from a fight,"(continued)

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Friday challenging Iowa’s tough policies that bar felons from voting, seeking to restore the right to thousands of former offenders before the 2016 presidential election. The case aims to end confusion over rules that followed a 2011 policy change by Gov. Terry Branstad and a criminal investigation into people who improperly voted. Iowa is among three states where felons cannot vote after completing their sentences unless their rights are restored by the governor. “The widespread denial of voting rights on the basis of a felony conviction is the single biggest denial of...

Excerpted: Tuesday, March 25, 2014 A federal judge last week upheld the right of states to require proof of citizenship before allowing someone to register to vote. Voters continue to overwhelmingly support such a requirement. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 78% of Likely U.S. Voters believe everyone should be required to prove his or her citizenship before being allowed to register to vote. That’s up from 71% a year ago. Just 19% oppose that requirement. (

A district court judge has struck down a rule Iowa’s Republican secretary of state had drafted in hopes of removing ineligible voters — non-citizens — from the state’s voter registration rolls. Matt Schultz, as secretary of state, is also the state’s commissioner of elections. The judge ruled Schultz did not have the authority to do what he wanted to do. The judge cited Iowa law which lists six circumstances in which the secretary of state may remove names from the list of eligible Iowa voters and none of those six deal with citizenship. The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa...

Vice President Biden claimed voter ID laws were evidence of “hatred” and “zealotry” during a Black History Month event yesterday in Washington. Ignoring the fact that voter ID laws were declared constitutional in a 2006 Supreme Court decision written by John Paul Stevens, the Court’s then most liberal justice, Biden is continuing the fact-free assault on anti-voter fraud measures. When such laws aren’t “hateful” they are “unnecessary.” The Brennan Center for Justice says “voter fraud is essentially irrational” so it almost never happens. Voter fraud is so rare “you’re more likely to get hit by lightning than find a case...

The investigations spurred by the Iowa secretary of state’s office uncovered nine more potential cases of voter fraud recently. These charges are related to convicted felons registering to vote, and in some cases, voting in elections despite not having their voting rights restored. Last month, the secretary of state’s office announced charges in three cases of non-citizens registering to vote and voting in recent elections. The press release from the Iowa secretary of state’s office is below: Des Moines – Charges have been recently filed in nine potential cases of voter fraud. Eight of the cases were recently filed by...

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa -- Republican Secretary of State Matt Schultz is running for U.S. Rep. Tom Latham's House seat in Iowa's 3rd Congressional District. Schultz announced his campaign Thursday in Council Bluffs where he used to serve on the City Council. Since he was elected secretary of state in 2010, Schultz has pushed for a state voter ID law and focused on combating voter fraud...

DES MOINES — Aides to U.S. Rep. Tom Latham say the 10-term Iowa Republican will not seek re-election in 2014. The 65-year-old Republican from Clive will have spent 20 years in Congress and is Iowa's senior U.S. House member. His decision creates an open seat that includes the Des Moines area, Iowa's most populous region.

Des Moines – Election misconduct charges were recently filed by Muscatine County Attorney Alan R. Ostergren in two potential cases of voter fraud in Muscatine County. Charges of election misconduct in the 1st degree were filed against Mayra Alejandra Lopez Morales of Muscatine and Sylvia Rada of Muscatine on December 4, 2013. Lopez Morales and Rada are accused of registering to vote and voting in the 2012 general election while being non-citizens. "I want to thank County Attorney Ostergren for taking election integrity seriously," Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz said. "Every vote can make a big difference and Iowans...

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Two more people face charges as Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz's crackdown on voter fraud continues. A Melbourne man is charged with election misconduct and fraudulent practice. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says 53-year-old Nickie Dean Perkins -snip- Authorities also have charged 64-year-old Jesus Castorena, of Hampton, with perjury for claiming on 2010 driver's license and voter registration applications he was U.S. citizen. He had been deported to Mexico in 2007.

An Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent has been assigned to a two-year term in Secretary of State Matt Schultz’s office to look into allegations of voter fraud, the Republican election chief’s top cause, The Associated Press has learned. County auditors, who run local elections, told the AP they were surprised when they were introduced to Special Agent Daniel Dawson and informed of his new role during a training meeting Wednesday in Cedar Rapids. Auditors said they also were taken aback when Dawson and another state official told them that he was looking into between 2,000 and 3,000 voters already......

During the last cycle, Schultz backed Mitt Romney, who shares his Mormon faith. Their shared religion as well as the previous endorsement in 2007 will definitely be interpreted as a swipe to the former Massachusetts governor. “Matt Schultz is a rising star within the Iowa Republican party,” Tim Albrecht, caucus veteran and communications director for Iowa governor Terry Branstad said. “His endorsement is another in a long line of impressive gets for the Santorum campaign. Rick Santorum’s organization here is real and that will be reflected on caucus night.”

On the eve of the debate in Des Moines, Rick Santorum's Republican presidential campaign added Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz to its growing list of supporters, according to a report in the Des Moines Register. A week after former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin slid into his corner but came up shy of a formal endorsement, Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz on Friday announced he is formally backing the campaign of the former Pennsylvania senator for the GOP presidential nomination....