(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate estimates the governor’s order on felon voting rights may impact about 35-thousand Iowans. Pate says the Department of Corrections has given his office a list of Iowans with felony convictions who are covered by the governor’s order and can become a registered voter.

However, the updated list Pate’s office will provide the 99 county auditors will NOT include a last known address.

Earlier estimates suggested as many as 60-thousand Iowans could be enfranchised by Governor Reynolds’ action, but Pate says it appears many paroled felons aready became eligible to vote between 2005 and 2010. That’s when Governor Tom Vilsack and then Governor Chet Culver had an executive order in place that automatically restored voting rights upon completion of a felon’s sentence. The two MILLION absentee ballot request forms Pate’s office sent active Iowa voters started showing up in mailboxes on Saturday.

A voter may check online to see when their county auditor RECEIVED the request FORM, when the auditor MAILS the voter a BALLOT and when the auditor gets that ballot in his or her office.

The secretary of state’s website is S-O-S dot iowa dot gov.