A Montgomery County jury prevented a miscarriage of justice on October 8, when jurors acquitted Joey Norris of first-degree election misconduct after deliberating for only a few hours.

Norris never should have faced a felony charge for his actions as a member of the board processing absentee ballots. Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna set the wheels in motion after she and Norris clashed on election day in November 2024. But Attorney General Brenna Bird is responsible for this unjustified prosecution.

State law gives Bird’s office exclusive jurisdiction over election-related offenses. Neither her staff nor local law enforcement conducted a competent investigation before charging a prominent Democrat in a deep-red county.

This episode could deter other Iowans from volunteering as election workers. Although Norris was found not guilty, the felony charge and trial left him with crushing legal bills. Who would want to risk becoming the next poster child for Bird’s “election integrity” crusade?

Julia Rendon is a retired minister in the United Church of Christ. As a member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, she has shamed businesses into paying their workers back wages, shone a light on predatory lending practices, and pressured the governor to reinstate the summer food program for kids. As a Christian, she believes that every person matters and everybody should have a voice in our life together, which is why she is working for free and fair elections in November. 

As we head into the November election, we can’t take our strong history of free and democratic elections for granted. Not even here in Iowa. 

Take Joey Norris for example. 

Joey volunteered in the 2024 election counting absentee ballots in Montgomery County, a job he took seriously. So, he was surprised to get kicked out of the counting room after voicing concerns over how ballots were being counted. Among other problems, multiple ballots were initially improperly rejected. Joey correctly pointed out they should be counted. He walked away without incident. 

Fast forward to this July. A year and a half after the fact, Joey faces a felony charge for first degree election misconduct. After posting bail, he is awaiting his trial scheduled for October. 

Iowans will elect 25 state senators today. Those races have attracted far less attention than this year’s Iowa House races, because Republicans have a lopsided 32-18 majority in the upper chamber and only a 53-47 advantage in the House.

Nevertheless, it’s important to keep an eye on the Senate races, because this year’s outcome will influence Democratic prospects under the new map coming in 2021.

This overview covers five districts where both parties are spending six-figure amounts, seven districts where Republicans spent a significant amount, and four more districts where the results could shed light on political trends in various parts of the state, even though neither Democrats nor Republicans targeted the race.