IOWA CITY, Iowa –– Iowa election officials have stopped using a long-flawed database of felons who are ineligible to vote as they rebuild it from scratch.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office removed the database, which contained more than 100,000 entries, from the statewide voter registration system last week. Workers are recreating the list by reviewing each entry and adding back those that are verified felony convictions.
They hope to complete the review before the November election.
Pate spokesman Kevin Hall says newly registered voters, who must attest that they aren’t felons, will be compared against only the verified entries to check their eligibility.