Iowans voted in near-record numbers in midterm election

The state’s canvass board, a collection of statewide officeholders that includes the governor and Iowa secretary of state, met by telephone Thursday to certify the results of the Nov. 8 midterm elections in Iowa.

Because recounts are still being conducted in three counties, the board will have to meet again to certify those results.

Iowans cast 1,230,416 ballots in the November 2022 election – the second-highest in state history for a non-presidential election year, according to Secretary of State Paul Pate, the state’s top elections official.

That turnout represents 55% of all registered voters in Iowa, and 65% of active registered voters, who are voters who also voted in the 2020 elections.

Pate thanked the more than 10,000 Iowans who worked at the polls on Election Day, and the myriad state and federal agencies that worked to monitor the elections.

“I’m very pleased that we had a clean, safe and secure election statewide,” Pate said during the telephonic meeting. “There were a few hiccups, but thanks to the checks and balances that Iowa has in place, we were able to ensure the integrity and the accuracy of the vote.”

Local elections officials in Linn, Scott and Cerro Gordo counties are completing recounts for elections to the Iowa House. Once those are complete, the state canvass board will meet again to complete officially certifying the state’s 2022 election results.

The official certification confirmed what has been known in Iowa since the night of the election: that it was a successful election for Republicans.

Thanks to the party’s myriad victories, Republicans next year will occupy the entirety of Iowa’s delegation to Congress – the first time that has happened since the mid-1950s.

And Iowa Republicans expanded their already strong majorities in the Iowa Legislature – pending recounts, to 63-37 in the House and 34-16 in the Senate. Republicans also won all but one statewide office.