A Montgomery County election worker went on trial this week in Red Oak, Iowa, accused of a felony for allegedly impeding the counting of absentee ballots during the 2024 general election, a case that has drawn an unusual coalition of supporters to a rally in Red Oak’s town square. Joey Norris served on a bipartisan board of six people tasked with counting ballots, and prosecutors say he willfully disrupted that process. His defenders, including a former Republican congressman, say he was simply trying to follow the rules.
As reported by KMTV 3 News Now Omaha, Iowa Assistant Attorney General Joshua Duden told jurors that Norris willfully hindered the ballot-counting process. Duden called Montgomery County Auditor Jill Ozuna to the stand, and she testified that the count was difficult because of constant interruptions and arguing. The felony charge stems from a provision in Iowa's 2021 election reform law that makes it a crime for election workers to fail to perform their prescribed duties or to perform them in a manner that hinders or disregards the law, according to Democracy Docket.
Defense attorney Gina Messamer pushed back against the state's framing, telling jurors that speaking up about what someone thinks the rules are is not a crime. She argued that Norris helps and follows the rules, not breaks them. Per Democracy Docket, Assistant Attorney General Duden formally recommended the felony charge in a June 19, 2026 letter sent to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, nearly 20 months after the November 2024 incident.
What Happened During the Ballot Count
During the November 2024 absentee ballot counting session, Norris brought a printed copy of the county auditor’s guidebook to challenge what he claimed were improperly rejected absentee ballots, Democracy Docket reports. Norris has maintained he was attempting to enforce election manual rules rather than disrupt the count, the outlet notes. Under Iowa Code § 39A.2, election misconduct in the first degree is a Class D felony carrying a potential penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, according to the Iowa General Assembly.
Norris, 36, previously chaired the Montgomery County Democrats and ran as the Democratic candidate for Iowa State Senate District 12 in 2020, per the same Democracy Docket account, which also notes he is the nephew of prominent Iowa political figure John Norris. The trial is expected to last at least through Thursday, according to KMTV.
A Rally Crosses Party Lines
Before proceedings Tuesday, friends and family gathered in the Red Oak town square, with Norris supporters saying the trial is about politics, KMTV reports. Former Republican congressman Steve King joined them and spoke in support of Norris, calling the trial “lawfare” and saying the charges were not intended by the legislature when it wrote the law — adding that, in his view, the process itself is the penalty. The rally was co-hosted by Southwest Iowa Indivisible and Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement to protest state prosecution of poll workers, according to Indivisible.
Messamer argued that Norris's comments to fellow election board members amounted to protected speech.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Iowa
Since Attorney General Brenna Bird took office in 2023, her office has initiated eight election-related cases, including six election misconduct charges, yielding one conviction as of September, per Democracy Docket's reporting. Iowa is among 12 states that enacted new or expanded criminal penalties for local election workers and voting officials in the years following the 2020 general election, the outlet notes.
The prosecution also lands amid local political friction in Red Oak: Norris's mother, Jan Norris, is campaigning for a seat on the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors this year, Democracy Docket reports. Writing for Bleeding Heartland, Julia Rendon has questioned why the Attorney General's office waited nearly 20 months to issue criminal recommendations and raised the question of whether the delay reflected political motivation ahead of this year's elections.
