As the November 3 general election looms ever closer, voters in Wright County and beyond are weighing their options for how to cast their ballot. For some, this decision has been made more difficult due to worries about coronavirus and recent concerns with the postal service. Given those concerns, Auditor Betty Ellis says that voting by mailed-in absentee ballot is safe and secure for Wright County voters.
During the June primary, Wright County, and Iowa in general, saw record voter turnout. This was largely because of mail-in voting. 80% of the state’s voters cast their ballots in June via mail, with the number being a little higher than that in the county. Ellis at the time supported widespread mail-in voting, going so far as to publish the absentee ballot request form in the county’s three newspapers.
She viewed it as the best way to participate in the process but also stay safe.
A few months later, Ellis’s tune has not changed for the general election. Mail-in voting has been much in the news lately as some say that its widespread use could lead to, at best, the postal system being overwhelmed and, at worst, fraud. Ellis emphasized that this is nothing she is concerned about locally.
Ellis said the process to request a mail-in absentee ballot is pretty simple. In fact, the Secretary of State’s office will be mailing them to all registered voters in the next week. If you don’t see the request form in the mail, you can obtain one at the auditor’s office in the courthouse or by going to the Secretary of State’s website. Additionally, various groups have been mailing request forms to individuals as well.
When you send your request form into the county auditor’s office, Ellis said to make sure you provide all the required information, including name, address, and birthday. Requesters also need to include either their Iowa drivers license number or their four-digit voter PIN number. Ellis said this PIN number can be obtained by contacting the auditor’s office and requesting an Iowa Voter ID card. Finally, don’t forget to sign the form. The request must be received at the auditor’s office no later than 5 p.m. 10 days before the November 3 election.
Many Wright County voters have already gone through this process. As of Monday, the auditor’s office had already received over 1,100 requests for absentee ballots, which Ellis said is way more than in previous general elections. After people request the ballot, they can even check to make sure the request has been received. People can visit www.sos.iowa.gov/elections/absenteeballotstatus
to check that their request was received, when their ballot gets mailed to them and when their completed ballot is received back at the auditor’s office.
Ellis says that by state law, she can begin sending out requested ballots on October 5 and no earlier. She encourages people to mail completed ballots back to her office as soon as possible. She explains that she is not concerned about postal disruptions in the county, but that it takes longer than people may realize for mail to move from the post office to a distribution center back to Clarion. Ellis again encourages people to use the abovementioned website to check to make sure their completed ballot has been received. Ballots must be postmarked by November 2 to be counted.
When Ellis’s office receives completed ballots, they take their own steps to ensure fraud does not happen. Such measures include matching up signatures on request forms and ballots and scanning barcodes. Overall, Ellis maintains, “There is a low level of election fraud in Iowa.”
Party leaders on both sides within the county tend to agree with Ellis, and also trust her office wholeheartedly to maintain election security. Republican county chair Larry McBain asserted, “I think the chances of fraud are very low. We’re a rural area and it’s not going to happen here.” Democratic chair Shannon Walker added, “I don’t have much concern about fraud. Betty does a really good job preventing that.”
Ellis added that if people decide not to use the mail in voting options, traditional in-person voting is of course an option. She said that the regular polls will be open in all precincts, though she notes that the Clarion and “big-6 precincts” voting location will again be at the Red Shed Event Center in Clarion.
Whatever way people decide to vote, Ellis encourages all to exercise that right and assures everyone that their vote is safe.
