A voter submits a ballot for the 2024 general election on the first day of early voting, Oct. 16, 2024, at the Polk County Election Office in Des Moines. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)
The Iowa Secretary of State’s office is determining whether a spelling error in the wording of a proposed constitutional amendment on Polk County ballots would create any problems in counting those votes.
As early voting began Wednesday, some ballots in Polk County contained a typo in its section on the constitutional amendment related to the gubernatorial line of succession. The constitutional amendment reads:
Lieutenant governor or lieutenant governor-elect to become or act as governor or governor-elect.
If there is a temporary disability of the governor, the lieutenant governor shall act as governor until the disability is removed, or the governor dies, resigns, or is removed from office. In case of the death, resignation, or removal from office of the governor, the lieutenant governor shall become governor for the remainder of the term, which shall create a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor. This section shall also apply, as appropriate, to the governor-elect and the lieutenant governor-elect.
On at least some Polk County ballots cast in early voting, the word “until” was misspelled as “unitl.”
The vote in this year’s 2024 general election is the final step in the state’s process of amending the constitution . The gubernatorial succession measure, as well as another proposed amendment dealing with age and citizenship requirements for voting, must be approved by a simple majority of voters to make it into the Iowa Constitution.
Before these measures appeared on Iowans’ ballots, they were passed through two consecutive general assemblies as required by state law.
While the intention of the constitutional amendment’s language was not changed by the misspelling, the Iowa Constitution does require the general assembly to “submit such proposed amendment or amendments to the people” with approval from a majority of electors before it can be added to the constitution.
“If the people shall approve and ratify such amendment or amendments, by a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly, voting thereon, such amendment or amendments shall become a part of the Constitution of this state,” the Article X, Section 1 of the Iowa Constitution reads. This language requires that the measure passed by the general assemblies is the proposal voters see on their ballots when making the final decision on the amendment.
A spokesperson with the Iowa Secretary of State’s office said the office is currently investigating the issue, but they so far have not found any part of Iowa Code or precedents that would invalidate the ballots affected by the error. The office has not yet issued guidance or required reprintings of the ballots due to the misspelling.
The Polk County Auditor’s Office did not respond Thursday to requests for comment on the error.
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