Northwest Iowa — County auditors in northwest Iowa are urging people to vote by mail for the upcoming primary election, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But if you can’t or don’t want to do that, you will still be able to vote in person on election day, which is Tuesday, June 2nd. However, your polling location might not be as convenient as you are used to.
In most cases, in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus and protect both poll workers and voters, the auditor’s offices are limiting the polling locations.
In O’Brien County, Auditor Barb Rohwer says there will only be two locations in the entire county where you can cast your ballot. One will be in Sheldon, and the other in Primghar. Also, the Sheldon location is NOT the normal Sheldon location. It will be at the Crossroads Pavilion Events Center. We are told that is because it is easier to limit access to the building to one entrance. Voters in Carroll and Floyd Townships (including the cities of Archer and Sheldon) will vote at the Pavilion. Everyone else who didn’t vote by mail will vote at the Primghar Community Center. Rohwer says they have had many requests for absentee ballots. She says they’ve handled over 1000 requests so far. Click here for more information on who votes where.
In Lyon County, Auditor Jen Smit says there will be one polling location for the entire county, which will be at the Forster Community Center in Rock Rapids. She also says that unlike some elections where there are two sets of poll workers in that building — one set of poll workers will handle all those voting in Lyon County who didn’t vote absentee — either by mail or in person at the courthouse in the days before the election.
In Osceola County, there will only be three polling locations: The American Legion Hall in Ashton, the Ocheyedan Town Hall, and the Sibley Senior Center, according to the Osceola County Auditor’s office. Click here for more information on who votes where.
There will only be five polling locations in Sioux County for the June primary. According to Sioux County Auditor Ryan Dokter, they will be the Prairie Winds Events Center in Orange City, the DEMCO Community Center in Boyden, the Hawarden Community Center, the Parkview Event Center in Rock Valley, and the Terrace View Event Center in Sioux Center. Click here for more information on who votes where.
Dokter says, “The decision to reduce the number of locations to open for the Primary Election was made due to the number of election workers we were able to recruit. We were able to select locations that are strategically placed in the county where no voter should have to drive much more than 20 minutes to vote.”
Dokter says he is still strongly recommending that voters utilize the vote absentee by mail option to reduce the number of voters coming to the polls to prevent any further spread of the coronavirus in an effort to protect both election workers and the public.
Absentee requests to vote by mail must be received in the Auditor’s Office by 5 p.m. May 22nd.
