After the 2016 election, there was plenty of talk about how possible interference through the internet could have affected the election results.  During a visit to Oskaloosa last week, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said that kind of thing isn’t possible in Iowa because we use paper ballots.

“That should set aside all these rumors about Russians changing votes or anybody else changing votes. That’s not possible under the process we use.  There’s a lot of other safeguards we implement and the key thing here is transparency.  We want people to understand what we do so that they can say ‘Yes, they’re doing that because of this.’  That’s a key part of this.”

Pate adds that in the US, elections aren’t centralized.  They’re controlled by state and county auditors and that’s as grass roots as you’ll get.

By the way, if you haven’t registered to vote yet, the deadline is this Saturday, October 27.  The Mahaska County Auditor’s office will be open on Saturday from 8am until 5pm.  You could still register at your precinct on Election Day; just make sure to bring along a photo ID that shows your current address.