Monday, March 31, 2014

Polling Place Moves Announced

The Johnson County Auditor's Office is making permanent polling place changes for eight precincts, effective beginning with the June 3 primary election.

Two of these moves were made as temporary changes starting with the September 2013 school election. Two other moves are simply changes within the same building.

Our office will send all voters in the eight precincts new voter cards this week.

We’ve decided to make these moves to improve service to voters, provide a better work environment for our precinct officials, and address some specific school security and space concerns.

Polling Place Moves

Coralville Precinct 4 (formerly Coralville Recreation Center)
Coralville City Hall, 1512 7th St. Coralville, IA 52241

City of Hills (formerly (formerly Hills Fire Station) and
Liberty-Pleasant Valley (formerly Hills Elementary School)
Hills Community Center 110 Main St E, Hills, IA 52235
(Temporary polling place since September 2013)

Iowa City 4 (formerly Lincoln Elementary School)
School of Art & Art History Building, 150 Art Building West
141 N Riverside Drive, Iowa City, IA 52242

Iowa City 10/East Lucas SW (formerly Iowa City Parks & Forestry Building)
Terry Trueblood Recreation Area, 4213 Sand Rd SE, Iowa City , IA 52240

Iowa City 16 (formerly Robert Lucas Elementary)
Mercer Park Recreation Center, 2701 Bradford Drive, Iowa City, IA 52240
(Temporary polling place since September 2013)

North Liberty 1 and
North Liberty 5 (formerly North Liberty Community Center)
North Liberty Community Library, 520 W. Cherry St, North Liberty, IA 52317
(move within building)

Friday, March 28, 2014

Satellite Voting Schedule for June 3 Primary

Early voting for the June 3 Primary Election begins at 7:45 a.m. Thursday, April 24 at the Auditor’s Office, 913 S. Dubuque St. Iowa City. Voting will be available at the office every weekday 7:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. through Monday, June 2, the day before the election. (Closed Memorial Day Monday, May 26.)

The Auditor's office will also be open as required by law on the Saturday before the election:

Saturday, May 31, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

In addition to early voting at the office, the following satellite voting sites are scheduled:



Old Capitol Town Center
201 S. Clinton St, Iowa City
Thursday, April 24, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m.



University of Iowa Main Library
125 W. Washington St., Iowa City
Wednesday, April 30, 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. 


NEW Kirkwood Community College
Commons Area
1816 Lower Muscatine Rd.
Iowa City, IA 52245
Tuesday, May 6
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.


Saturday Night Concert Series
City High & West High Jazz Ensembles
Wedge Pizza, Pedestrian Mall
136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City
Saturday, May 17, 5 - 8 p.m.



Rural Health and Safety Clinic Votemobile
Hy-Vee Food Stores

812 S. 1st Avenue, Iowa City
West Parking Lot
Sunday, May 18, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.



Broadway Neighborhood Center
2105 Broadway, Iowa City
Wednesday, May 21, 1 - 5 p.m.



Iowa City Farmers Market
Chauncey Swan Parking Ramp
405 E. Washington St., Iowa City
Across street from City Hall
Saturday, May 24, 7:30 a.m. - noon



North Liberty Library
520 W Cherry St., North Liberty
Thursday, May 29, 3:30 - 7 p.m.



Iowa City Public Library
123 S. Linn St., Iowa City
Friday, May 30, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Saturday, May 31, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Sunday, June 1, noon – 5 p.m.



University of Iowa Hospitals & Clinics
200 Hawkins Dr., Iowa City
Fountain Lobby
Friday, May 30, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.



Coralville Public Library
1401 5th St., Coralville
Saturday, May 31, 10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Sunday, June 1, Noon - 4 p.m.

Friday, March 21, 2014

How Primary Elections Work

Here at the Auditor's Office we're already getting ready for our next election, the primary election on June 3. Primaries work under different rules than other elections.

The biggest difference is that primaries are the only election where you HAVE to pick a party. The voters registered with each political party are choosing their party's candidates for the November election.

That also means primaries are the only elections in which nobody actually gets elected! Candidates just get nominated in the primary. They get elected (or not) in November.

A primary is a lot like having two elections going on at the same time, except you can only vote in one.

Here's an oversimplified example using dead politicians because that's safer.

In a primary election, you have to choose one party's primary or the other. You can't vote in both, and you can't vote a split ticket of Republicans for one office and Democrats for another. Only the two full-status parties, Democrats and Republicans, have primaries, so those are the only candidates on the ballot.

In the general election in November, everyone gets the same ballot. There are more parties on the ballot, and you can split your ticket.

But getting back to the primary, we see some raised hands in the audience.


Can an independent vote in a primary?
Yes and no. You can walk IN as an independent (in Iowa the official term is "No Party"), but you can't walk OUT as an independent. You have to declare affiliation as a Democrat or Republican before you vote.
Can I change parties?

Any time, even at the polls. Ask for a party's ballot, that changes your registration.

How soon can I change back?

Whoa, slow down. When you signed that form you just swore in good faith that you want to change your party. However, we can't judge your good faith. When you change we have to send you a new voter card. Wait till you get that new card, and if you voted early wait till after the election.

Can I vote for a Republican for one office and a Democrat for another?
In a general election, yes. In a primary, no.
Can I write in a candidate of one party in the other party's primary?
Yes, but the primaries are separate contests. Let's say you vote in the Democratic primary and write in Abe Lincoln. You're saying you want Abe Lincoln to be the Democratic candidate. So that counts as a Democratic primary vote for Lincoln. It doesn't get added to Lincoln's Republican primary total.
Can a candidate be the nominee of more than one party?
That's called "fusion." Some states allow that. Iowa doesn't.
Can a candidate who loses a primary run as an independent or with another party in the general election?
Some states don't allow that. Iowa does.
I hear there might be a convention for the Senate race. What's with that?
The law says a candidate has to get 35% of the vote to be nominated. If no one gets 35%, their party has to have a convention to pick the candidate. You're hearing more about it because the Republicans have five US Senate candidates, and a couple congressional races in other parts of the state have five or six candidates. If it comes to that, the parties have better answers than we do.
What about the other parties?
Iowa's got two official third parties (the legal term is "political organization"), the Greens and Libertarians. You can register with them, but they don't have primaries. Anyone who's not running as a Democrat or Republican can file a petition to get on the ballot.. The time to do that is in August.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Bill Would Free Up Storage For Auditors

During the legislative session, auditors follow proposed legislation and make recommendations on bills. It doesn't always work, of course.

But there's one bill this year with strong bipartisan support and a good chance of passing.

You May Not Know but the way the law's written now, auditors have to keep original paper copies of voter registration forms forever. This takes up a lot of storage space.



OK, maybe not that much space. But, according to our on-site expert at the Secondary Roads department where we store the old forms, "enough to park a dump truck."

House File 2366 (formerly House Study Bill 622) would allow for electronic storage of voter registration applications. Once the forms have been scanned, they can be securely shredded.

HF2366 is currently in the Senate State Government Committee. The next "funnel" (deadline for legislation to either advance or die) is at the end of this week.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Welcome!

Hi there. We're always trying to find new ways to get the word out about elections and voting in the Iowa City area, so we thought we'd try this. It may look a little generic at the moment but we're working on that. Check back soon for some actual content.