Iowa election worker cleared of alarming 2024 election misconduct charges

An Iowa election worker who was charged with a felony for allegedly interfering in ballot counting during the 2024 presidential election was acquitted at trial last week.

The verdict was a win for election integrity in the Hawkeye State: The charges against Joey Norris stemmed from a verbal disagreement he had with the county auditor about rules and procedures while counting absentee ballots. And Norris believed that he was targeted, in part, for coming from a prominent Democratic family. 

Norris’ prosecution — which came at the direction of Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R), a staunch ally of President Donald Trump — was particularly alarming at a moment when the Trump administration is engaged in an unprecedented nationwide assault on voting, including probing supposed election crime.

“I think the biggest emotional struggle for me, being an active citizen and an Eagle Scout, is that this whole thing was perpetuated on me by my government,” Norris said in an interview with Democracy Docket. “And I think that should disturb anybody, whether or not they come to a reasonable conclusion that my questions hindered the way we were counting the ballots, which I think is ridiculous in itself.”

The case against Norris featured several glaring signs of prosecutorial overreach.

Iowa pressed charges against Norris nearly two years after the incident in question. Moreover, he was charged under a provision of a massive Iowa voter suppression law passed in 2021 that makes it a crime for election officials to fail to perform their “duties and responsibilities in such a way as to hinder or disregard the object of the law.”

The felony charge carried a penalty of up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine — and it was reportedly the first such case that Iowa had filed against an election worker. 

Zoë Stein, the executive director of Contest Every Race — a pro-democracy organization that recruits Democrats to run for local office in rural Republican strongholds — previously told Democracy Docket that it appeared Norris was targeted because he was “willing to do democracy’s unglamorous work.”

In a new statement to Democracy Docket, Stein praised the jury for acquitting Norris but said the charges should not have been brought in the first place.

“Everyday volunteers are the backbone of our democracy,” she said. “They show up, know the rules, and stand up for what’s right. This verdict is a victory, but we need to keep building and supporting local organizations so there are more Joey Norrises in every community.”

Ahead of the trial earlier this month, dozens of people rallied in front of the courthouse to support Norris. Among them was an unlikely figure: Steve King, a far-right former Republican congressman whose own party criticized him for making racist comments and supporting white supremacist ideology. 

King — who has worked with Norris’ mother to oppose a pipeline proposal in Iowa — called the prosecution “lawfare” and said Bird, who was his chief of staff in Congress until 2010, should drop the charges.

“The encouraging thing about having Steve King come to a rally for somebody like me, who’s a huge Bernie Sanders supporter, is that it shows there’s a path forward if we all understand that our government is a tool to promote our general welfare, not a tool to tear each other down or divide us,” Norris said.