Auditor raked; she didn't add vote station

The Story County official says that there wasn't time to publish a notice.

By KRISTIN HOELSCHER
Des Moines REGISTER STAFF WRITER
October 31, 2004

Story County Auditor Mary Mosiman was criticized Saturday for her decision not to open an added satellite voting station Monday at Iowa State University.

Mosiman's announcement conflicts with earlier statements by Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver, who said Mosiman would arrange another day of satellite voting after some students complained they were turned away from a site at ISU's Parks Library on Oct. 21.

State officials said Mosiman violated voting regulations when she directed poll workers to turn away people in line at closing time.

The proposed additional voting day was to be Monday, but Mosiman said that leaves insufficient time to publish a notice, as required by law, seven days in advance.

Mosiman, a Republican, "had the opportunity to make good on what appeared to be an honest mistake, but she didn't take that advantage of that opportunity," said Amber Hard, state director of the Iowa New Voters Project.

Jim Hutter, a political science professor at ISU and Mosiman's challenger in Tuesday's election, said Saturday he was "shocked at how Mary Mosiman finds ways to keep people from voting instead of helping them to vote."

Mosiman issued a written statement that said the legal publication requirement "is very clear" and that "intentional disregard of this could seriously jeopardize the entire election."

She also took a swipe at Culver, a Democrat, who indicated that he might issue a "technical infraction" against Mosiman.

State regulations say poll workers must allow voters to cast ballots if they arrive before the established closing time. Mosiman initially said she thought that the rule did not apply to satellite stations and the site would have run out of ballots before those in line could vote.