Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says he’ll push for changes to state law in the upcoming session to help identify noncitizens who attempt to register to vote.
Pate is proposing adding lack of citizenship as a reason for election officials to cancel a voter’s registration without a challenge process. Pate also said Wednesday that he wants Iowa law to say that his office can contract with other government agencies and third party entities to verify voters’ eligibility.
He said his bill will help avoid situations like this year’s election, when he decided to challenge the ballots of people on a flawed list of potential noncitizens, most of whom were eligible voters.
“It’s very clear in our present election law, you have to be a citizen to vote, but it’s a little vague on how we ascertain that information. And so what we’ve tried to do is write legislation that will give us that information without putting an undue burden on the potential voter,” Pate said.
Pate is currently suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for information he says is needed to verify the citizenship of registered voters.
*Additionally, the North Dakota State Historical Society has obtained a collection of original lithographs depicting life among indigenous peoples of the Dakotas.
Pieces that were once tucked away in a San Francisco arthouse are now part of the society’s permanent collection.
In 1832, Swiss artist Karl Bodmer and German Prince Maximillian embarked on a journey throughout the American Interior West. One of the results of that expedition were the paintings of dozens of lithographs depicting indigenous life in the region before widespread colonization of the plains, in what is now South Dakota and North Dakota.
Less than five years later, a smallpox epidemic would devastate the local indigenous population depicted in these paintings.
Kara Haff, public information officer for the North Dakota State Historical Society, said the expedition paintings depicted people living in the current day Dakotas. Those included both the daily life of Native Americans and also portraits of their chiefs.
The 1830s originals will be placed soon into rotation at the North Dakota Historical Society.
*In other news, a lot of people in states with agriculture as a prominent part of the economy are urging members of Congress to push fast to get a new Farm Bill.
With just a few days left in the session calendar for the 118th Congress, groups representing farmers and agricultural interests say farm bill reauthorization this year is very important, but also not very likely.
The farm bill sets the nation’s farming and food policies, covering programs that support farmers, and food assistance programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, for the general public.
Aaron Shier, the government relations director with National Farmers Union, a group that represents farmers in 33 states, said a short-term extension of the 2018 Farm Bill is more likely than a new bill that covers five years.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds in the first week of December sent a letter urging federal lawmakers to quickly act.
The 2018 Farm Bill expired last year, and a one-year extension expired a few months ago. Agriculture committees in the U.S. House and Senate have been working on their own versions of a new farm bill, but progress has been slow.
In the Republican-led House, the Agriculture Committee approved a new farm bill in May, but the legislation has not been taken up by the full chamber. In the Senate, Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow released proposed text for a farm bill in November, but that was quickly dismissed by House Republican leaders.
Funding for some farm programs will continue for the rest of the year. But the federal government’s authority to spend money ends with the expiration of a continuing resolution on Dec. 20.
Congress is expected to pass a new continuing resolution, and a second extension of the 2018 Farm Bill could be attached to it, if quick agreement on a new farm bill is not possible.
There are also proposals to include one-time financial aid to farmers struggling with inflation and natural disasters.
*Additionally, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services is reminding people of two incentive programs offering student loan repayment of up to $200,000, for qualified medical care providers who agree to work in rural communities and state-designated shortage areas.
In a release, Nebraska DHHS officials said such incentive programs can help bring medical providers to rural towns with medical personnel shortages.
In small towns and rural areas, approximately 40 percent of family medicine providers have participated in incentive programs. The rural health incentive programs currently impact over 900,000 people living in Nebraska, according to a state report.
