Another angle on this
Then, this July, the deputy sheriff of Red Oak, Iowa called Norris up and told him to surrender himself or else they would come and arrest him. Norris now faces up to five years in prison on a felony charge over a verbal disagreement he had with other election officials, who he said weren’t following the proper rules for counting absentee ballots.
The prosecution would be concerning during any administration. But it’s particularly alarming at a moment when President Donald Trump is engaged in an unprecedented nationwide assault on voting — including making probing election crime a top priority. His administration has regularly signaled that it wants a focus on election cases — a message heard loud and clear by prosecutors at every level.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird (R), whose office brought the case against Norris — as well as numerous other election cases — has been one of the leading state prosecutors backing the president’s attack on the right to vote.