Holding Them Accountable

Paul Pate

Iowa Secretary of State · Republican

Iowa's chief elections officer is on the ballot in 2026. Here is Paul Pate's record on the freedom to vote — with a source on every line.

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Voter ID

Championed Iowa's Voter ID Law

As Secretary of State, Paul Pate pushed Iowa's 2017 Voter ID law (HF 516), which required an approved ID at the polls, cut early voting from 40 days to 29, and eliminated straight-ticket voting.[10]

The 2024 Voter Challenge

Ordered Thousands of Ballots Challenged — Then Got Sued

Days before the 2024 election, Pate directed county poll workers to challenge the ballots of about 2,022 people his office flagged as potential noncitizens.[2] The ACLU and LULAC sued on behalf of naturalized citizens who were wrongly caught up in it; the case settled with the state agreeing it would no longer rely solely on driver's-license data to flag voters near an election.[3]

The Aftermath

Most of Those Flagged Were Eligible Voters

When his office finished checking, only 277 of the roughly 2,176 people it had flagged turned out to be noncitizens — most of the people on the list were eligible voters, many of them naturalized citizens.[6]

Scott County

The Directive Reached Scott County

Pate's 2024 order wasn't just a statewide memo. When the ACLU and LULAC sued, they named Pate and five county auditors — including Scott County's auditor — as defendants.[7]

Ranked-Choice Ban

Wrote the Bill Banning Ranked-Choice Voting

Pate proposed House File 954, signed into law June 2, 2025, which bars Iowa elections from using ranked-choice or instant-runoff voting and expands his office's citizenship-verification power. It passed the House 65-31 and the Senate 32-15.[8]

Ethics Disclosure

Didn’t Disclose His Role in a Business That Had Spent $2 Million

The Associated Press reported that Iowa's top elections official left his role in a new corporation off his personal ethics filing — a company that had spent roughly $2 million opening a storage business and buying a strip mall. Pate called the story “absolutely false” in a written statement. Thirteen days later he amended the filing to name several business ventures he had not listed.[5]

Hold Him Accountable

The Freedom to Vote Is Worth Defending

Paul Pate is on the ballot in 2026. Iowa's elections chief should make voting easier, not harder. Share his record, and get involved. This November, Iowans have a real choice — Democrat Ryan Peterman is running to replace him.[9]

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Sources

Every Claim, Sourced

Each fact above links to a primary government record, the candidate's own words, or a neutral news report. Numbers correspond to the citations below.