Iowa voters remove county auditor who espoused conspiracy theories

Iowa’s Warren County held a special election for auditor on Tuesday, where voters selected Democrat Kim Sheets and ousted conspiracy theorist incumbent David Whipple (R).

Whipple is a former construction manager who regularly spreads QAnon, 9/11 and election fraud conspiracies. The Warren County Board of Supervisorsappointed Whipple as the interim top election official after the previous auditor Traci VanderLinden resigned in May. The three-member board is made up of all Republicans. They chose Whipple even though VanderLinden had mentored Sheets to be her successor and recommended her to the board when she left office.

According to information on Warren County’s website, Sheets secured 5,051 votes (67%) while Whipple took home 2,538 votes (33%). Sheets previously served as the deputy auditor for Warren County, and she announced her victory in a news release on Tuesday.

“When the county supervisors tried to take away the voice of the people, the people of Warren County stood up for our democracy and said with one voice: We trust competence of conspiracies,” Sheets said. “Today, I stood for an election in the county I’ve served for over 20 years. Tomorrow, I’m going back to work for the people.”