DES MOINES, Iowa - Governor Kim Reynolds isn't saying whether she'll sign a sweeping election bill backed by her party in the legislature.
“Well, I think, you know, I haven’t had a chance, we’re reviewing it right now,” said Reynolds Thursday during her weekly press conference. “So I’ll probably give you the same perspective that I give when you all ask where I weigh in on a bill. It goes through the process. I don’t weigh in unless it’s one of the bills that I am sponsoring. And then once that makes it through both chambers with the same language, it’s sent to my office. My team does a thorough review of the bill and then we sit down. Pros, cons, what it actually does. And so we’ll be in the process of doing that.”
The Republican controlled legislature took one week to introduce and pass the bill to shorten the early voting period and place new limits on absentee ballots.
It's been one of the most hotly debated bill's in this year's legislature, drawing sharp criticism from Democrats.
Republicans say it'll improve the voting process and weed out voter fraud, while Democrats have called it "voter suppression."
The bill also adds criminal charges for county auditors that don't follow state rules.
Partly at issue are the actions of several county auditors who mailed out absentee ballot request forms with the voter's information already filled in.
The Trump administration brought a lawsuit and successfully had those request forms discarded.
The new legislation bars county auditors from sending out any ballot request forms until they're specifically asked for by voters. It also reduces the window for the absentee balloting process rom 120 days to 70 days.
Governor Reynolds praised Iowa's current voting system during her Thursday press conference, calling it a model for other states to follow.