County auditor staff busy with early voting

With two weeks to go until the Nov. 8 election, the Jasper County Auditor’s office has already honored requests for more than 6,000 absentee ballots — almost as many as it received for the entire 2008 election cycle.

The office could be on pace to topple the mark of 9,300 requests received in 2012. Some requests come by mail, while others are simply taking advantage of early voting hours and filling out their absentee ballots in the auditor’s office.

A steady stream of early voters could be seen at the courthouse on Tuesday.

“We are getting busy as the excitement builds,” deputy auditor Tina Mulgrew said.

Voting can be done from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, including Nov. 7, at the office. The office will also be open for voting from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 5.

The last day to request an absentee ballot is Nov. 4 and mailed-in ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 7. However, to ensure all ballots are received by the time a special precinct board goes over the late-received ballots on the afternoon of Nov. 10, it helps the counting process move quicker if absentee ballots are mailed in as early as possible.

An official canvass of Jasper County election results is set for Nov. 14.

This week, a team is going to all licensed health care facilities within the county to assist residents in casting absentee ballots.

On Tuesday, the auditor’s staff will run an open-to-the-public test of election equipment. The 1 p.m. test will be held in the county’s election equipment building, located at 113 W. Second St. S. where the county employee parking lot is located behind the former genealogy building.

The last day to pre-register to vote is Saturday. Voter registration can be done at the time of voting in person with a photo ID and a proof of residence.

As of Tuesday, there were more than 24,500 registered voters in the county. That’s broken down into about 8,600 Democrats, 7,400 Republicans, 53 Libertarians and 11 members of the Iowa Green Party. About 8,500 Jasper County voters are registered as “no party.”

On Election Day, all 20 of the county’s poll locations will be open from 7 a.m. from 9 p.m.

"We will post results as they come in on the Jasper County website," Mulgrew said, referring to www.co.jasper.ia.us. "We will not be having a watch event in the rotunda of the courthouse, so we are asking everyone interested in the election results to look for results online. We anticipate results to start coming in between 9:15 and 9:30 p.m. The results from absentee voting will possibly be available a few minutes sooner."

The auditor’s office can be reached at 641-792-7016.

Here are the Nov. 8 polling locations for Jasper County:

• Precinct 1 (Clear Creek, Mingo, Valeria, Poweshiek Township)

Mingo Community Building, 202 E. Railroad St., Mingo

• Precincts 2, 3 and 4 (Colfax Wards 1, 2 and 3)

Jasper County Fairgrounds, 359 Walnut St., Colfax

• Precinct 5 (Prairie City and Des Moines Township)

Prairie City Community Building, 503 S. State St.

• Precinct 6 (Lynnville, Sully, Elk Creek, Lynngrove Township)

Sully Community Center, 318 Sixth Ave., Sully

• Precinct 7 (Monroe, Fairview Township)

Monroe City Hall, 206 W. Sherman St.

Precinct 8 (Kellogg, Oakland Acres, Hickory Grove, Rock Creek, Buena Vista-Richland Township, Kellogg Township)

Kellogg City Hall, 417 Front St, Kellogg

• Precinct 9 (Baxter, Independence-Malaka-Mariposa Township)

Baxter City Hall, 203 S. Main St., Baxter

• Precinct 10 (Mitchellville, Mound Prairie-Washington Township)

Colfax Fire Station, 113 W. State St., Colfax

• Precinct 11 (Newton City Ward 1-Precinct 1)

Jasper County Church of Christ (formerly the UAW Hall), 1813 1st St. N., Newton

Precinct 12 (Newton City Ward 1-Precinct 2)

Park Centre, 500 First St. N.

Precinct 13 (Newton City Ward 2-Precinct 1)

Immanuel Baptist Church, 1300 N. Fourth Ave. E., Newton

• Precinct 14 (Newton City Ward 2-Precinct 2)

St. Luke’s Methodist Church, 501 E. 19th St. N., Newton

• Precinct 15 (Newton City Ward 3-Precinct 1)

McCann Center, 1115 S. Eighth Ave. E., Newton

• Precinct 16 (Newton City Ward 3-Precinct 2)

Jasper County Community Center, 2401 First Ave. E., Newton

• Precinct 17 (Newton City Ward 1-Precinct 1)

Jasper County Historical Museum, 1700 S. 15th Ave. W.

• Precinct 18 (Newton City Ward 4-Precinct 2)

American Legion Post 111, 1101 W. Fourth St. S.

• Precinct 19 (Newton-Sherman Township, Lambs Grove)

Jasper County Church of Christ (formerly the UAW Hall), 1813 First St. N., Newton

• Precinct 20 (Reasnor, Palo Alto Township)

Reasnor City Hall, 312 North St., Reasnor

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com

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