Iowa Secretary of State, Paul Pate, says record numbers of absentee ballots have been cast in today’s (Tuesday’s) Primary Election, reporting that nearly 376,000 of those mailed out, representing 77 percent, have been returned already. The mailing deadline for absentee ballots required a postmark of Monday, June 1, so that number is expected to continue to grow. In the Carroll Broadcasting listening area, Audubon County voters saw a total of 1,065 ballots distributed with 894 already recorded as returned. For Calhoun County, 1,670 were sent out and 1,425 are in while Carroll County voters requested and were mailed 3,242 ballots with 2,646 of those returned. For Crawford County residents 2,196 ballots were mailed out and of those, 1,858 have been returned. Greene Guthrie and Sac Counties reported 1,402, 1,683 and 1,804 mailed respectively with 1,205, 1,350 and 1,580 returned. In the U.S. Representative District 4 race, which has five Republican candidates vying in the Primary: Incumbent, Steve King, Randy Feenstra; Steve Reeder; Bret Richards; and Jeremy Taylor, 120,877 ballots were requested and 101,106 of those returned to date. And in the contested 6th District Senate race in Iowa with Republicans Craig Williams of Manning and Heath Hansen of Audubon facing off for the nomination, 8,508 ballots were mailed out with 7,100 of those returned. Tune in to Carroll Broadcasting after polls close at 9 p.m. tonight for local results as they come in, or log on to carrollbroadcasting.com.