Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Joni Ernst, and Rand Paul on the University of Iowa campus Wednesday night.
Posted on 10/23/2014 3:49:00 AM PDT by iowamark
IOWA CITY — Two weeks before Iowa’s high-profile U.S. Senate election, Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst’s campaign may be planning for a recount.
Ernst’s campaign filed open records requests this week with at least five Iowa counties, seeking materials that include training manuals, satellite voting locations, names of precinct ballot counters, recount procedures and any communications sent to her competitor, U.S. Rep. Bruce Braley.
“I think they’re gearing up for a recount,” said Johnson County Auditor Travis Weipert, who received the letter from Ernst’s senior adviser Derek Flowers Tuesday.
Recent polls show Ernst, a Red Oak Republican, and Braley, a Waterloo Democrat, are neck and neck, with Ernst having a slight lead. If the margin of victory is thin or the results uncertain after the Nov. 4 election, a recount may be requested.
A public records request from a political candidate isn’t unusual, but the volume of materials Ernst’s campaign is seeking right before an election isn’t typical, several auditors said. Flowers asks auditors to notify him if they can’t provide the materials within five days — which may be a challenge for some counties.
“It’s going to take some time we don’t have, because the people who would do it are getting ready for the election,” said Linn County Auditor Joel Miller.
Weipert said he did not think his office would be able to compile all the requested materials before Nov. 4. His staff are consulting with Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness, he said.
Iowa Code Section 22 allows public records custodians a “good faith, reasonable delay” in providing records if they’re trying to figure out whether the documents are confidential, but the delay shouldn’t exceed 10 business days.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a letter to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office Oct. 6 seeking election materials that included voting instructions, satellite polling locations, names of ballot counters, recount rules and any materials sent to Braley’s campaign.
NRSC general counsel Megan Soward, who signed the Oct. 6 letter, did not return a phone call Wednesday.
Sarah Reisetter, director of elections for the Iowa Secretary of State, replied to Soward with links to state election training materials and information about satellite polling locations. Reisetter said the state had not received any open records requests from Braley or his sponsors.
As for the names of ballot counters, Reisetter recommended Soward contact all 99 Iowa counties, which may have been what triggered Ernst’s letter to county auditors.
Flowers did not immediately return calls Wednesday afternoon. Among other counties that received a letter this week are Polk and Clinton, Weipert said. The Woodbury County Auditor’s Office also said it had received a letter.
Reached on Wednesday night, a staffer for the Ernst campaign called the request “common procedure.” Ernst was not available to reporters after her evening appearance outside of Gilmore Hall on the University of Iowa campus.
I don’t blame Ernst at all. We know the Democrats are going to cheat and steal votes nationwide so the Ernst campaign is taking no chances.
I think the democrat plan this election is to cheat and cheat openly in order to gum up the whole process and then declare the whole election as invalid and a do over down the road will be called for.
Good for her! She’s being proactive so that some liberal nutcase judge at least can’t rule that she waited too long to file for a recount as has happened before.
Massive vote fraud is taking place.....b/c if Dumbo Braley loses, the long knives will be out for Michelle for screwing up her Iowa appearance. Surrounded by Braley campaign posters, the F/L kept calling him "Bailey."
Iowa was the only place she was allowed to campaign in. Most Dummycrats nixed her coming to their states.
If Braley loses, the F/L will never get Boobamba to eat boiled unsalted kale stems ever again.
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Boobamba is losing it----knowing he'll face a Republican- controlled Congress. Why else would the lamebrain prez foist Ebola patients on US citizens---importing infected sickos from all over the world ---just in time to vote illegally.
Smart move on her part, there is going to be massive fraud in this midterm.
Also there should be test votes on all touch screen voting machines in all key red states.
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MEMO TO ERNST CAMPAIGN: Check out Dummies' vote-fraud MO:
<><><> INELIGIBLA DACA BENEFICIARIES FOUND ON NC VOTING ROLLS North Carolina election officials discovered 145 names who are ineligible b/c they are illegal immigrants granted Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status.....
....the NC State Bd of Elections discovered the illegal voters Tuesday when the DMV ran a search for DACA licenses. The DACA recipients on voting rolls will be sent letters requesting documentation that they are citizens. NC DACA beneficiaries are able to obtain drivers licenses, but are not able to vote.
The Winston-Salem Journal notes that it is likely more ineligible people may still remain on the voting rolls. Nearly 10,000 names on the rolls are tagged by the DMV as "legally present"..... But that doesn’t mean that all 10,000 are ineligible to vote. These were not US citizens when they got a license. They may have been green-card holders, foreign workers or foreign students, for example.
Earlier, election officials did a sample cross-check of 1,600 of the 10,000 “legally present” names against a DHS database and found that 94% were eligible to vote.....that means if the ratio held for the whole 10,000, 600 people would be ineligible...in a state where the Senate election is a dead heat. A DMV spokesman is now cross checking all the names....early voting is set to start Thursday.
<><><> CHECKOUT VAN RENTALS---Dummycrats will be transporting vans full of so-called "voters"---Ebola patients, illegals, minorities, felons, etc. The Dummis pre-register names---then van riders vote the names----on lists provided by Dummies.
She has put the Democrats on notice: We’ll be watching for your shenanigans. Hopefully there won’t be ballots found in the trunk of a car after the election.
She should also call for poll watchers during the election. They should count the people entering the polling location...and make sure that number matches the number of ballots given out.
Is it legal to videotape the entrance of a polling location? That way there is a record of the people entering to vote.
She wants to pare down the Democrats’ 2% margin-of-cheating.
<><><> We figured Obama was flooding us with illegals to later register them as lifelong Democrats...but now we learn Obama's illegal DACA's have been automatically added to NC voter registration lists.
<><><> Recall that 2012 Obama conspired to sign-up 11,000+ illegally-registered voters... a place w/ no voter ID.
<><><>Republicans voting in uber-corrupt Illinois have seen machines switch their vote to the Democrat-happened to GOP state Senate candidate James Moynihan;
<><><> A left-wing activist in T-shirt was caught stuffing ballot boxes in Arizona---can be seen on YouTube.
<><><> James O'Keefe caught on video Colorado Senator Mark Udall's SuperPAC-funded campaign-workers casually advocating committing felonies (voter fraud).
Rush is talking about N.C. Blacks will show up and raise hell over not being registered. All they have to do is slow down the line until polls close. It wouldn’t have to be a secret.
Hot damn! Finally a Pubbie goes on the offensive. You go Joni!
Recounts should be done nationally.
Wow...a republican with a spine...and a brain....
I thought only a select few had that combination....
Normal M.O. for republicans: get blind sided by democrat cheating, then pretend to give a crap they are being rolled and cave...
Let the raise hell; that’s no big concern. In Texas, if you’re “in line” before the time the polls close, you vote. I’m sure it’s that way in every state.
Smart woman.
Good advice---O'Keefe found Udall's people casually advising urging people to commit felonies....urging that discarded ballots be filled out.
A vote fraud ruse to get Udall suck-ups to vote twice?
Repubs need to be ready---any person making a stink should be removed from the voting line and asked to sit in a reserved space....to get their grievances resolved, later....much, much later.
Hmmm
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