The last few months have been out of the ordinary for Wright County Auditor Betty Ellis. She is used to preparing for elections, but the primary this year looked very different from past ones. She found herself having to think about face masks, plexiglass barriers and hand sanitizer as she tackled planning an election in the midst of concerns about COVID-19. Most significant of all, the usual system of several voting precincts across the county was changed to one centralized location and absentee ballots were pushed. And apparently, the adjustments worked out just fine.
Several weeks ago, Ellis and her fellow Iowa county auditors started to encourage voters to apply for absentee ballots. Then Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate decided to allow the mailing of absentee ballot request forms to every registered voter and extend the early voting period for mailed ballots from 29 days to 40 days. This was a measure to prevent groups from having to gather at polling places and risk exposure to coronavirus.
This initiative was more successful than Ellis could have imagined. Over 1,900 absentee ballots were requested throughout Wright County. By the end of last week, Ellis had received back 1,718 ballots that were countable. This is impressive considering in the last primary in 2016 she explained only 44 absentee ballots were returned.
The in-person voting was understandably less popular. 369 Wright County voters came out to vote at the county’s one official polling place, the Red Shed Event Center in Clarion. The county usually has 10 precincts but with health and safety concerns, they decided to have all voters come to one location for in-person voting, something that many counties throughout the country did as well.
Ellis noted that having the one polling place allowed them to control the situation very well. There was a hand sanitizing station right when voters came in the door, poll workers were behind plexiglass barriers, pens were not shared, and areas were cleaned after each voter. Ellis added that the Red Shed, which is a large event venue, allowed plenty of social distancing space. She admits that she was initially concerned about voters having to travel if they wanted to vote in person, but it didn’t seem to be too much of a problem.
In the end, all of the efforts from Ellis and her staff and helpers paid off. She noted that voter turnout was above and beyond what it was four years ago at over 37% for the county with 2,067 ballots cast. In 2016, the number was 568. Statewide, Iowa broke their previous 1994 record and saw 24% turnout.
Overall, Ellis said she was very pleased with how everything went throughout the county. She was happy with her staff and poll workers and even said voters did a great job filling in ovals on ballots this year, which makes her job easier.
She added that she is not sure what to expect for the general election in November. Decisions have not been made regarding polling sites and absentee ballots yet. But whatever does happen, Ellis is confident that Wright County will meet all challenges to get out the vote.
See the story on elsewhere on our website for the county’s complete election results.
