Statewide Iowa — More than two million Iowans are registered to vote in Iowa — a new milestone for this point in an election cycle.
There have never been this many registered voters in Iowa at the beginning of December, heading into a General Election year. Secretary of State Paul Pate cites a variety of factors, like the new law that lets 17-year-olds register to vote if they’ll be 18 by Election Day next November. The 17-year-olds can also vote in a primary election if they will be 18 by the general election.
Pate also noted people can register online and victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking can register to vote now and keep their address confidential. Go to www.radioiowa.com to see how voter registration numbers break out for the political parties and in each of Iowa’s four congressional districts.
It’s a little different story in northwest Iowa. While O’Brien County Auditor Barb Rohwer did mention a small influx of 17-year-olds, somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 voters, she says there was not a big change, as voter registration is pretty high already in O’Brien County — a sentiment echoed by her counterparts in Sioux, Osceola, and Lyon counties.
Sioux County Auditor Ryan Dokter says his county is almost always in the top five or ten counties statewide for the percentage of citizens who are registered to vote. He says the numbers are always in a bit of a state of flux. He does expect a push to register to vote as we approach next year’s general election.
RadioIowa assisted with this story.
