Requests for absentee ballots are way behind the last city/county election in Woodbury County two years ago.
The deadline was 5 p.m. yesterday.
Woodbury County Auditor and Election Commissioner Pat Gill provided an update today and says as of 4 p.m. yesterday, 585 requested absentee ballots. There were 5,000 in 2019.
Gill believes changes in election law will deeply impact turnout and the ability of the disabled to vote. Gill’s office used to send out prefilled absentee ballot request forms to all registered voters in Woodbury County until state law banned the practice last year.
Gill says absentee ballots must be received by the time polls close at 8 p.m. on election day. Previously, votes were valid if postmarked before Election Day and received by the Monday following the election.
Early voting started October 13th at the Woodbury County Courthouse and continues until the day before the election.
The Sioux City Council unanimously voted Monday in favor of amending the city's snow ordinance, which will only make parking on emergency snow routes illegal when the mayor has declared a snow emergency.
City Code currently states that it is illegal to park on an emergency snow route either when the mayor declares a snow emergency and when there is 2 inches of snowfall, though this entire chapter of the Code says that it only applies during snow emergencies. The amendment eliminates the 2-inch condition.
The Morningside University Stand Against Sex Trafficking is a 24-hour event that begins on Oct. 19. The event is being held by the Morningside's Human Rights + Women's Rights course in an effort to spread awareness about sex trafficking and raise funds for the Iowa Network Against Human Trafficking and Slavery.
