Illegal campaigning alleged at Iowa polling sites

By LYNN CAMPBELL
Des Moines REGISTER STAFF WRITER
November 2, 2004

Iowa was among at least five states - along with Minnesota, New Hampshire, Colorado and Michigan - where Republicans complained today that the left-leaning group MoveOn was illegally campaigning too close to polling sites.

"This is part of the Democrats' national plan to disrupt the election," said Gentry Collins, deputy chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa. "The Democrats are trying to create a sense of chaos at the polls with hopes of casting doubt on the election today."

But Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn PAC, the grass-roots group backing Democrat John Kerry for president, said there was no evidence of his group's 70,000 volunteers doing anything wrong.

"This is a smear campaign," Pariser said. "These charges are simply fraudulent. We play by the rules."

In Iowa, campaigning within 300 feet of the entrance of a polling place is illegal. Those caught "electioneering" can be charged with a serious misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $1,500.

Complaints of electioneering came from voters and election workers in Polk, Story, Linn, Johnson and Pottawattamie counties. Ames police and the Polk County attorney's office were among those called to help move people away from polling sites. No arrests were reported.

"We think that the problem's been corrected," Assistant Polk County Attorney Michael O'Meara said this afternoon. "In almost all the cases where people were informed what the law was, they agreed to abide."

Some Cedar Rapids voters complained to the Linn County auditor about a blue van with its tailgate open and a MoveOn PAC sign in the parking lot of the Church of the Nazarene, where a polling place was located.

MoveOn attorney Joe Sandler said volunteers were not electioneering because they were approaching people after they had voted. Iowa law allows pollsters within 300 feet of polling sites if they are conducting exit surveys.

"They're playing by the same rules as every other candidate, party, committee and group," Sandler said.

O'Meara agreed that complaints in Polk County involved people conducting exit polls. But Story County Auditor Mary Mosiman said other voters complained of the MoveOn volunteers talking to them as they entered the polling site.

Other problems reported today were less widespread:

- IDENTITY THEFT? Deanna Trevillyan, 40, of West Des Moines went to vote at Stilwell Junior High School, only to find she was not on the list of registered voters. She said she's lived and voted in the same precinct for at least 14 years.

Trevillyan said officials at the election office said her Social Security number and birthday were listed as someone else's in Ankeny. However, Polk County Auditor Michael Mauro was unaware of the case and questioned how election workers would know that.

It was unclear whether the person in Ankeny had voted. Trevillyan cast a provisional ballot today, which is unlikely to count if she's not a registered voter. "I didn't want to be voting a provisional ballot," she said. "I've heard too many controversies about that."

? VOTING MACHINES: An automatic absentee ballot-counting machine made by Election Systems & Software of Omaha broke down about 1 p.m. today in Scott County, forcing election officials to start over in counting an estimated 23,000 ballots. Scott County Auditor Karen Fitzsimmons said the county resorted to backup machines, which required election workers to manually feed the ballots in one by one.

? WRONG PRECINCT: Derek Schoppa, 27, said he didn't get his voter registration card in the mail, so he drove to three polling places in Urbandale before he landed at the correct one, St. Pius X Parish Center. His smile was huge after successfully voting for John Kerry.

? ABSENTEE BALLOTS: Some voters were forced to vote by provisional ballot after they threw their absentee ballots away. "A lot of people requested ballots back in July, then they didn't realize what they were and threw them away," said Jasper County Auditor Ken Slothauber. "I imagine most of them will be counted." The Iowa Civil Liberties Union also received a report of a Polk County woman who received an absentee ballot by mail already marked straight Republican. The ballot was discarded, and the woman was allowed to vote. ICLU Executive Director Ben Stone said the incident appeared to be isolated.

? NOT ON VOTER ROLLS: Linda and Vincent Lewis have lived in the same West Des Moines neighborhood for 14 years and vote regularly. But this year, their names were not listed on the voter rolls. They were startled, but they followed poll workers' advice and filed provisional ballots.

? OVERVOTING: In Polk County, some voters were overvoting, or voting for too many candidates, causing voting machines to reject ballots. "They're just making mistakes," said Mauro, the county auditor. "They think the machines are broken, but the machines are really working."

? TOO INVOLVED: Other complaints involved Republican and Democratic poll watchers getting a little too involved, O'Meara said. The situation was remedied when election officials reminded poll watchers of their appropriate role.

? ADDRESS CHANGES: A Republican poll watcher in Linn County challenged voters who reported new addresses when they cast their ballots. State law allows that kind of change if there's proof of residence within the precinct. Linn County Auditor Linda Langenberg said the poll watcher later acknowledged she was wrong, but not before sending those ballots into the provisional pile. They will be evaluated and counted Thursday by a special precinct board.