Eight Iowa counties have more registered voters than eligible voters? Fact Check

Claims spreading through social media claim that eight Iowa counties have been found to have more voter registration numbers when compared to the eligible voters living in those counties.

FALSE

The claims, which were originally posted by the website Judicial Watch and have circulated a day before the Iowa primary caucuses for the 2020 US presidential election, tie into a larger narrative that attempts to assert that voter fraud in the United States is on the rise.

However, as with most claims of this kind, the numbers are simply inaccurate and the method used to obtain that conclusion is deeply flawed.

The Secretary of State for Iowa, the Republican Paul Pate, has dismissed the claims.

It’s unfortunate this organization continues to put out inaccurate data regarding voter registration, and it’s especially disconcerting they chose the day of the Iowa Caucus to do this,
…
My office has told this organization, and others who have made similar claims, that their data regarding Iowa is deeply flawed and their false claims erode voter confidence in elections

The numbers put forth by Judicial Watch are significantly inaccurate, possibly in part because they included inactive voters in their tallies for registered voters within a particular county. Inactive voters are voters that have not responded to requests to verify their registration details, which can be caused by a variety of reasons, such as the person has left the county.

We looked at the numbers for some of the counties in Iowa, including Scott County, using 2018 Census Bureau data and data that is publically available from the Iowa Secretary of State website.

For example, Scott County had an estimated population of 173,283 in 2018, with 23.7% under the age of 18, meaning an approximate eligible voter population of 132,215. According to the 2020 data at the Secretary of State for Iowa website, there are 115,393 active voter registrations. That’s an 87% registration rate.

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Similarly, Johnson County has an estimated population of 151,260, with 20% under the age of 18, giving an approximate eligible voter population of 121,008. According to the data from the Secretary of State for Iowa website, there are 96,958 active registered voters. That’s an 80% registration rate.

All of this aside, comparing active registration rates against estimated Census data is a terribly inaccurate method of determining voter fraud. Such data records different data during different periods of time, and Census data is only approximate data. Finding inconsistencies between those figures does not prove voter fraud, much less with political party is culpable.

We rank the claim false.