Constitution Day: Governors have a vital role in free and fair 2024 election

It is essential that those tasked with ensuring that Americans’ votes are respected keep their focus on the days and weeks that follow Election Day.

September 17, 2024 | Chet Culver | Des Moines Register

This year, the chief executives of all 50 states and the District of Columbia will have a new and crucial obligation under the law as they seek to uphold their duty to our Constitution. As a result of reforms enacted by Congress in 2022 to the way states must certify their presidential electoral votes, every governor now sits at the pinnacle of that process. It falls to them, ultimately, to ensure that they deliver the all-important certificates of ascertainment to the National Archives (and, subsequently, to Congress) no later than Dec. 11 — or risk the disenfranchisement of all their states’ voters. …

That’s why today, along with 18 other former Democratic and Republican governors, I am sending a letter to the sitting governors of all 50 states and the mayor of the District of Columbia reminding them of this responsibility and urging them to comply fully with the new law.
-Chet Culver

Chet Culver served as the 41st governor of Iowa; he was Iowa secretary of state and chief elections officer from 1999 to 2007.