爱荷华州爱荷华市——数百名17岁的青少年在2020年无法投票选举爱荷华州选举办公室周一证实，因为他们的年龄在最近被标记为不活跃的294，000名爱荷华州登记选民中。

根据爱荷华州国务卿办公室的说法，在该州的选民登记数据库中被标记为不活跃不会立即影响任何人的投票能力。但根据州法律，这是导致一个人在四年多不活动后被取消注册的过程的第一步。

由州长金·雷诺兹(Kim Reynolds)上月签署的一项新的共和党法律重写了投票规则，要求爱荷华州国务卿将所有在最近的大选中没有投票的选民转移到非活动状态。此前，选民不得不连续错过两次大选才能获得这一地位。

爱荷华州的新法律是共和党人在全国范围内推动的一部分，以确保只有那些有资格投票的人才能登记，并清理过时、臃肿的选民名单，他们说这些名单会引发欺诈。民主党人认为，爱荷华州的改革过于激进，会错误地将故意选择不在选举中投票或因正当理由错过选举的选民归类，最终可能导致一些合格选民被清洗。

发言人凯文·霍尔说，爱荷华州国务卿保罗·佩特的办公室本月向294，148名2020年没有投票的登记选民邮寄了明信片，通知他们他们的非活动状态。这代表了该州220万登记选民的13%以上。

仍然住在同一个县的选民可以通过签名和归还明信片来恢复活跃状态。从现在到2024年大选，如果他们要求缺席投票、投票或更新登记，他们也将被激活。之后，他们可能面临取消。

霍尔说，将大约400名17岁的人标记为不活跃并不是一个错误，这些人根据州法律合法登记投票，但不能参加2020年的选举，因为他们还没有满18岁。他说选民维护法适用于所有登记的选民。但霍尔说，未来该州可能会在制定行政规则以实施新法律时，寻求免除这些17岁的青少年的失活。

霍尔周一透露，该州的数据库供应商Arikkan错误地将492名因死亡或其他原因而被取消注册的人转移到非活动状态。他说，错误很快被发现，他们已经被取消。

根据2019年生效的一项法律，爱荷华州的人一旦满17岁，就可以登记投票。此前，他们必须年满17岁零6个月。

共和党人帕特经常和高中生一起去鼓励他们注册。他还在全州范围内为注册了至少90%合格学生的每所学校颁奖，称“让学生参与选举过程至关重要。”

林县审计员乔伊·米勒，一位考虑在2022年与佩特竞选的民主党人，在上周的一封信中告诉佩特，登记的17岁的人，包括他所在县的42岁，不应该收到不活动通知。

米勒写道:“不正确地让选民失去活力对全州的选民来说是一件令人沮丧的事情。”。"它散播不信任和不确定性，同时也阻碍选民投票。"

米勒周一表示，这给年轻人传递了错误的信息，鼓励他们注册，然后迅速转身，把他们列为不活跃的人。

他说，他的办公室一直听到17岁的人对收到通知感到不安，以及其他选民声称他们在2020年投票，不应该被视为不活跃。

米勒还质疑新标准是否应该追溯适用。他指出，没有参加2020年选举的选民没有注意到这样做会使他们的地位变得不活跃。

“不幸的是，这只是让整个选举制度看起来有争议，”他说。

Iowa moves 294,000 registered voters to 'inactive' status

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Hundreds of 17-year-olds who could not cast ballots in the 2020electionbecause of their age are among 294,000 registered Iowa voters recently marked as inactive, Iowa’s election office confirmed Monday.

Being flagged as inactive in the state's voter registration database does not immediately affect anyone’s ability to vote in any way, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s office. But under state law, it's the first step in a process that would result in the cancellation of one’s registration after four more years of inactivity.

A new GOP law rewriting voting rules, signed by Gov. Kim Reynolds last month, requires the Iowa secretary of state to move all voters who did not cast ballots in the most recent general election to inactive status. Previously, voters had to miss two consecutive general elections to be moved to that status.

The new Iowa law is part of a nationwide push by Republicans to ensure that only those eligible to vote are registered and clean up outdated, bloated voter rolls that they say invite fraud. Democrats argued Iowa's changes are too aggressive, will wrongly categorize voters who purposely choose not to vote in an election or missed for a valid reason and could eventually lead to purges of some eligible voters.

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office this month mailed postcards to 294,148 registered voters who did not cast ballots in 2020 informing them of their inactive status, spokesman Kevin Hall said. That represents more than 13% of the state’s 2.2 million registered voters.

Voters who still live in the same county can return to active status by signing and returning the postcards. They will also be made active if they request an absentee ballot, vote or update their registrations from now through the 2024 general election. After that, they could face cancellation.

Hall said that it was not an error to mark as inactive roughly 400 17-year-olds who legally registered to vote under state law but could not participate in the 2020 election since they had not yet turned 18. He said the voter maintenance law applies to all registered voters. But in the future, Hall said the state may seek to exempt those 17-year-olds from inactivation when it writes administrative rules to implement the new law.

Hall disclosed Monday that the state's database vendor, Arikkan, mistakenly moved 492 people whose registrations had been canceled because they died or for other reasons to inactive status. He said that error was quickly discovered and they have been returned to canceled.

Under a law that went into effect in 2019, people in Iowa can register to vote once they turn 17. Previously, they had to be 17 years and six months old.

Pate, a Republican, often visits with high school students to encourage them to register. He also gives awards across the state to every school that registers at least 90 percent of their eligible students, saying “it’s vital that we engage students in the electoral process.”

Linn County Auditor Joel Miller, a Democrat considering a run against Pate in 2022, told Pate in a letter last week that registered 17-year-olds, including 42 in his county, should not have received inactivity notices.

“Incorrectly inactivating voters is a chill to voters across the state,” Miller wrote. “It sows distrust and uncertainty while also discouraging voters from voting.”

Miller said Monday said it sends young people the wrong message to encourage them to register and then quickly turn around and list them as inactive.

He said his office has been hearing from 17-year-olds who are upset about receiving the notices and other voters who claim they did vote in 2020 and shouldn’t be considered inactive.

Miller also questions whether the new standard should apply retroactively. He noted that voters who sat out the 2020 election were not on notice that doing so would move their status to inactive.

“Unfortunately, it just makes out whole election system look debatable," he said.