Karen A. Romano
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Karen A. Romano is a district judge of Iowa District 5C. She was appointed to this position in 2001. Romano was retained to another six-year term in the 2010 general election. She was retained again in the general election on November 8, 2016.[1][2]
Biography
Romano earned an undergraduate degree from Creighton University in 1983 and a J.D. from the University of Iowa in 1986.[1]
She started her career in private practice then served as an assistant Polk County attorney from 1987 to 1997 and an district associate judge from 1996 to 2001.[1]
Elections
2016
Fifty-nine Iowa District Court judges sought retention in the general election on November 8, 2016.[3]
Karen A. Romano was retained in the Iowa District 5C, District Court Judge Karen A. Romano Retention Election with 74.85% of the vote.
| Iowa District 5C, District Court Judge Karen A. Romano Retention Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Yes votes | |
 Karen A. Romano | 74.85% | |
| Source: Iowa Secretary of State, "November 8, 2016, General Election: Judicial," accessed November 9, 2016 | ||
2010
- See also: Iowa judicial elections, 2010
Romano was retained on November 2, 2010, with 69.14 percent of the vote.[2]
Noteworthy cases
2019: Romano strikes down absentee ballot verification process
On January 23, 2019, Karen A. Romano struck down a rule, instituted by Secretary of State Paul Pate (R), requiring local election officials to contact absentee voters directly to obtain information missing from their absentee ballot requests. The rule in question prevented officials from obtaining missing information from Iowa's existing statewide voter database. Pate had argued that this rule constituted the "best means available" (the language used in state statutes) for verifying absentee voters' eligibility. Romano, in her order, said, "The court finds that the secretary's interpretation is erroneous. Forbidding commissioners from using the voter registration system entirely is a direct contradiction of the term 'best means available.'" Pate criticized Romano's ruling and said he intended to appeal her decision to the state supreme court: "Judge Romano's decision puts the integrity and security of Iowa’s elections at risk by making it easier to cheat. The purpose of this rule is to ensure that county auditors obtain information missing from an absentee ballot request form from the source: the requesting voter."[4]
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Iowa Judicial Branch, "District Five Judges and Magistrates," accessed September 15, 2016
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Iowa Secretary of State, "Official Results Report," November 29, 2010
- ↑ Iowa Secretary of State, "Judges Standing for Retention November 8, 2016 General Election," accessed September 1, 2016
- ↑ Des Moines Register, "Iowa voter ID law: Judge strikes rule on absentee ballots as 'irrational, illogical and wholly unjustifiable,'" January 24, 2019
Federal courts:
Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Northern District of Iowa, Southern District of Iowa • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Northern District of Iowa, Southern District of Iowa
State courts:
Iowa Supreme Court • Iowa Court of Appeals • Iowa district courts
State resources:
Courts in Iowa • Iowa judicial elections • Judicial selection in Iowa