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Joel Miller (Iowa)
Joel Miller (Democratic Party) ran for election for Iowa Secretary of State. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Miller completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Joel Miller was born in Independence, Iowa. He served in the U.S. Army from 1977 to 1980. He earned an associate degree from Hawkeye Community College in 1983 and 1975 and a bachelor's degree from the University of the State of New York Regents College in 1994. His career experience includes working as a county auditor and commissioner of elections.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Iowa Secretary of State election, 2022
General election
General election for Iowa Secretary of State
Incumbent Paul Pate defeated Joel Miller in the general election for Iowa Secretary of State on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Paul Pate (R)  | 60.0 | 723,250 |
 | Joel Miller (D) | 39.9 | 480,474 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 708 | ||
| Total votes: 1,204,432 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Iowa Secretary of State
Joel Miller defeated Eric Van Lancker in the Democratic primary for Iowa Secretary of State on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Joel Miller | 71.6 | 98,049 |
 | Eric Van Lancker | 28.2 | 38,646 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 294 | ||
| Total votes: 136,989 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Iowa Secretary of State
Incumbent Paul Pate advanced from the Republican primary for Iowa Secretary of State on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Pate | 99.7 | 174,513 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 567 | ||
| Total votes: 175,080 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Joel Miller completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Miller's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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In the midst of late-changing state rules during the 2020 election cycle, Miller found himself being sued by the Donald Trump presidential campaign over an interpretation of new election rules. A judge sided with the Trump campaign, but an editorial in The Gazette in Cedar Rapids declared that Iowa needed more "rogue auditors" who wanted to err on the side of voter participation and health during a pandemic.
Prior to becoming county auditor, Miller was the IT Director for Four Oaks of Iowa, a senior project manager for Siemens, an IBM business partner, and a long time manager in the telecommunications industry. Miller served on the Robins City Council for 4 years prior to being elected to a two-year term as Mayor.
Miller grew up on a dairy farm outside Independence, Iowa. He became a deputy sheriff at the age of 18 and later joined the US Army and achieved the rank of sergeant during three years of service.
Miller is a former member of IBEW Local 2021 and a former chair of the Linn County Democratic Central Committee.
Miller holds associate degrees in Police Science and Electronics Engineering Technology, and a bachelor's degree in Liberal Studies.- Make Voting Easy Again! But to do so, Iowans must #FirePaulPate. Why? 1> Pate pocket vetoed two proposed amendments to the Iowa Constitution by failing to publish them in official newspapers. Pate blamed the mistake on staff and fired a top appointee. Legislature took away Pate's duty to publish amendments. 2> Pate negligently inactivated 17-year-olds not eligible to vote in the November 2020 election. Pate blamed the Legislature for making the law. Legislature changed law to prohibit Pate from inactivating 17 year-olds in the future. 3> Pate silent on voter suppression contained in 2021 election law changes. No leadership. Did not register For/Against/Neutral on law during debate or after passage. See www.joelmiller.org for more.
- Make Elections Fair Again! 1> Allocating one absentee ballot drop box per county is not fair. Iowa should allocate drop boxes based upon population. 2> Lower number of signatures required for citizens to request a satellite voting place. Number required unfair. Base number on recently passed law which lowered signature requirements for county supervisors, e.g., 21 signatures for counties of 15,000 or less.
- Put Voters First Again! 1> Print absentee ballot request forms in newspapers as I did before 11/2/2021 election, and as I am doing for 6/7/2022 primary election. 2> Increase hours to early vote by keeping election offices open longer M-F, add hours on weekends, and/or be open on holidays. For 6/7/2022 election, voters in my county will have the option to early vote on each of the 20 days allowed for early voting. 3> Identify unregistered households and mail them voter registration forms on a quarterly basis. The key to participation is registration!
I firmly believe the challenges governments face are not caused by too few citizens being involved; on the contrary, not enough citizens are involved.
My father died in office in 1982. He loved serving the people and he loved serving with his fellow legislators. He was always looking out for the "little guy", to ensure the little guy was being represented. He never forgot his roots.
My father would always drop was he was going to help a friend or neighbor in need. Even though his unfinished work would be awaiting him when he returned.
Be as transparent as possible. Respond to public records requests as soon as possible. And if you are going to err on providing information of public interest, err on the side of providing too much information.
For elections, my vision is every person engaged in government.
As Secretary of State, my vision would be: 75% of the eligible electors of the State of Iowa voting in presidential year general elections - not just 75% of the registered voters. An eligible elector is any person 18 years of age who meets the qualifications to vote.
We have thousands of unregistered voters in this State. Let us pass legislation to allow for automatic voter registration at the age of 17 years. In one generation, about 20 years, most eligible electors would be registered to vote.
In conjunction with getting more eligible electors registered to vote, let us pass legislation allowing the State to provide candidates' guides to every registered voter. We cannot continue to ask voters to vote on people and referendums they know nothing about. If we want informed voters, then provide them easy to use guides to begin the decision-making process on who and what to vote for or against.
And finally, let us develop secure, convenient ways to vote, and reverse Iowa's recent trend to make voting by mail and early voting as inconvenient as possible.
Our dairy farm was unique. We milked the cows, pasteurized and homogenized the milk, bottled it, and delivered it door-to-door circa 1954 - 1971.
The best qualified candidates for the Office of Iowa Secretary of State are likely to come from local election officials who have administered multiple elections.
Attention to detail. The Code of Iowa contains over 600 pages of election laws. In addition, there are several hundred pages of administrative rules related to elections.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Miller's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
WHY FIRE PAUL?
WHY HIRE JOEL?
|
” |
| —Joel Miller's campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 9, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Joel Miller for Secretary of State, “#FirePaulPate,” accessed October 28, 2022
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