Editor’s note: The story has been updated to reflect the correct percentages. The previous version used the county’s total population rather than the registered voter total in the calculations.
Early voting in Carroll County is about even with the 2022 mid-terms but lags behind the 2020 presidential election. As of this (Wednesday) morning, more than 2,300 ballots have been submitted via in-person early voting or mailed out to voters who have requested them. Carroll County Auditor Kourtney Payer says it has been busy at their office, but not unusually so.
Of the 2,372 ballots requested as of 8:20 a.m. Wednesday morning, 938 of them were in-person early voters, and 1,434 were ballots requested by mail. That figure represents about 15.8 percent of the total eligible voters in the county. Contrast that with the 2022 mid-terms in Carroll County, which has 2,525 early votes cast by Election Day, or about 16.9 percent of the county’s electorate. The 2020 presidential election was an outlier for Carroll County, as it occurred during COVID. Nearly 43 percent of voters cast their ballots absentee in that election. The state legislature has made slight adjustments to Iowa’s voting laws in recent years, but Payer says they are yet to turn away any eligible voters.
Payer says they occasionally have an unregistered voter, but that situation can be easily rectified.
Monday, Oct. 21, was the last day election officials could send out mail-in ballots. Payer says it is essential those voters understand ballots must be returned by the time polls close on Nov. 5.
Voters casting ballots by mail can track them via a tool on the Iowa Secretary of State’s website, a link to which is included with this story online. The Carroll County Auditor’s Office will be open the Saturday before the election from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. to give voters unable to make it to the office during the week a chance to vote early. Polls are open on Election Day, Nov. 5, from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/absenteeballotstatus/absentee/search
