Northwest Iowa — The turnout at this week’s primary election seems to have set records, both locally and statewide.
Secretary of State Paul Pate — the state’s commissioner of elections — says a record 487-thousand votes were cast in the primary, even though in-person voting was sparse.
(as said) “Everything went real well — a real light physical turnout, but basically that was our plan and that’s what we anticipated,” Pate says. “Most people stepped up and did the absentee.”
Those who DID vote Tuesday were greeted by poll workers wearing masks and gloves. Voters in some counties also had the option of actual drive-thru voting.
(as said) “It was kind of a hybrid of the curbside concept,” Pate says. “They said: ‘Well, if we’re going to do curbside, why don’t we just have people out here waiting and, if you pull up, we’ll process you from your car.”
There are normally 16-hundred-81 precincts, but due to concerns about the pandemic and the emphasis on voting early by absentee ballot, precincts were consolidated into 514 polling sites statewide Tuesday.
In our area, O’Brien County Auditor Barb Rohwer says that the unofficial turnout was 30.85 percent, which appears to be a record. Of course, turnout depends on which offices are up for election and who’s running. In 2018, the turnout was about 15 percent. In 2016, it was 30.47, and in 2014, it was under 20 percent. Rohwer also says, unsurprisingly, there was also a record number of absentee ballots. In the 2016 GENERAL election in November — which was a Presidential year without an incumbent — the county recorded 2,014 absentee ballots. On Tuesday, they recorded over 2,218 absentee ballots — and this is only the primary election.
In Sioux County, Auditor Ryan Dokter says he would guess they also had a record turnout with absentee and traditional voters combined, they had 48.69 percent turnout. Dokter went back as far as 2002, and the only primary that comes close was the 2004 primary, when there was a 40.22 percent turnout. Other primaries in that timeframe ranged from 4.54 percent in 2012 to 39.45 percent in 2002.
Osceola County Auditor Rochelle Van Tilberg says they also had a record turnout for a primary election. Unofficially, they had 1163 absentee and traditional ballots, which is 27.6 percent. In the two previous primaries, the turnout was in the teens, percentage-wise.
In Lyon County, Auditor Jen Smit also reports a record turnout of 46.64 percent for Tuesday’s primary. In the recent past, primaries have had 24.93 percent in 2018, 9.74 percent in 2016, 25.64 percent in 2014, and 34.55 percent in 2012.
