Eastern Iowa auditor’s election worker payments investigated

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand has announced his office has launched an investigation into an eastern county auditor’s payments to election workers. Sand’s office said in a news release Thursday that it will examine potential overpayments to election workers that were approved by former Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz. Sand said the payments could amount to a misuse of Help America Vote Act funds made available through the Iowa Secretary of State Office, which is also helping with the investigation. Moritz, who resigned last month, had previously told the Quad-City Times that she made a mistake and thought she had the authority to increase poll workers’ pay from $10 to $12 an hour to $15 an hour.