KDSN RADIO News
Early voting pace in Iowa similar to 2016
Well over half a million Iowans have already voted in this year’s election. Becky Bissell, president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors, says that’s about 25% of registered voters.
“We have been seeing some pretty good turnout for absentee voting,” Bissell told Radio Iowa. “…That takes a bit of the pressure off of the polling places on election day and a little bit of the pressure off our poll workers.”
Nearly a million ballots were cast before election day four years ago, as many Iowa voters opted for mail-in voting during the pandemic. Early voting in Iowa this year is similar to 2016.
Bissell is the auditor for Adams County, which had a population of about 3700 in the 2020 Census. “For Adams County in 2020, we had about 1200 absentee voters. In 2016, we had about 900, and right now we’re on pace for that 900 mark,” she said.
The majority of ballots that have already been cast this year are from Iowans who went to their county auditor’s office or a satellite location to vote. For those who requested an absentee ballot, got it in the mail, but haven’t mailed it back yet — Bissell has some advice. “I just can’t stress enough that if you requested an absentee ballot by mail, make sure you get those in. We no longer go off of the postmark on the envelope. You have to have it into the auditor’s office by 8 p.m. on Election Day, so if you still have an absentee ballot, make sure you’re getting it turned back in,” Bissell said. “I think your best bet would be to hand deliver it back to the auditor’s office.”
Election workers may begin counting the early “absentee” votes at 7 a.m. on Election Day. That’s the same time all neighborhood precincts open for in-person voting. “We cannot release any results until 8 p.m. after the polls close on Election Day,” Bissell says, “so as soon as 8 p.m. rolls around, you could start to see some absentee results come in.”
By 7 a.m. yesterday over 517,000 early votes had been cast in Iowa. At some point today, state officials will release an updated report on the number of registered voters in Iowa.
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