Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board opens investigation into Me…

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board decided Thursday to open an investigation into Melissa Vine’s campaign in Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District.

Vine, running as a Democrat the district, was the subject of a complaint made by the Iowa Unity Coalition, a progressive PAC, earlier in May.

The coalition held a vote April 30 on who to endorse in June 7 Democratic primary between Vine and Lanon Baccam, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture official and Biden campaign staffer. Registered members had to pay $20 to the group to participate in the online vote.

Chair Mitch Henry said in an interview that the PAC saw a sudden increase in members the day of and the day before the vote. During the 24-hour online voting process, large quantities of votes were submitted over the course of one hour. An audit by the Iowa Unity Coalition found that 41 votes were submitted by non-members, and that 43 others were submitted by people who had signed up…