Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate is the new co-chair of the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Elections Committee. Pate will serve for one year overseeing the important, bipartisan committee, along with New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver. They will work together to share best practices and help every state conduct smooth, clean elections.
“We have an enormous challenge ahead of us to restore voter confidence in this country,” Secretary Pate said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues from around the country to protect our elections. This is a very important year and it’s an honor to be chosen as co-chair of this important committee heading into the 2022 midterms.”
Iowa ranks third best in the nation for election administration, according to a recent study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Election Data + Science Lab.
“We’ve made it easy to vote but hard to cheat in Iowa and I believe our system is a model for the rest of the country,” Pate added. “Reforms such as Voter ID, online voter registration, and post-election audits have resulted in record turnout in recent years, while strengthening our election security.”
Secretary Pate is a past-president of NASS.
“I’m proud to appoint Secretary Pate, who brings years of experience as an election official, to the role of NASS Elections Committee Co-chair,” said NASS President and New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way. “I look forward to working with him and Co-Chair Maggie Toulouse Oliver on behalf of American voters in the year ahead.”