The deadline for requesting a ballot for the city/county election in Woodbury County is today at 5 p.m.
During last week’s League of Women Voter Candidate Forum for City Council, Woodbury County Auditor and Election Commissioner Pat Gill talked about the changes made by the Iowa Legislature.
“What I am seeing is this is going to have a huge negative impact on the turnout for this election.”
Gill says 5,000 people voted absentee during the last city/county election two-years ago. Last week, his office counted a total of about 200 requests.
He predicts instead of the record turnout of 25% in 2019, the level might be 10 to 15%.
Gill believes disabled voters who usually rely on absentee voting will be the most impacted.
And, there is also a new requirement for returning absentee ballots as well.
"They use to be just had to be postmarked the day before the election, now they have to be in our hands by 8 p.m. on election day for them to be counted. If it is after that, your vote is not going to county and that is unfortunate.”
Early voting in-person from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. is available at the Woodbury County Courthouse until the day before the election.
Gill recently sent all registered voters in Woodbury County a flier detailing the election changes. He wanted to get the information out earlier but says a delay in receiving official information from the Secretary of State’s Office came two weeks later than he liked.
