Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Election Day Liveblog

10:06 PM: Going home! Congrats to the winners, thanks to everybody who ran, and extra thanks to my staff!

7:25 PM: A brief bump in the road at Twain due to a (false) fire alarm. They're back up and voting.

We're almost ready to get into election returns mode. Results will be here after 8 and on cable channel 5.

6:45 PM: We sent extra workers to North Liberty, City High and Mercer to handle the late rush. If you're in line by 8 you can vote!

6:24 PM: Our 6 PM call in is done. At our last update before polls close the ICCSD is at 4999 (SO close!) voters, on track for the second highest school turnout ever. We've been saying "turnout down" all day, but 2013 was the record.  As at previous updates, City High is the only precinct where turnout is up.

Solon is running less than half their 2013 pace. Lone Tree is quiet but Clear Creek Amana is a little busier than we expected for an uncontested race. We sent extra ballots - but we had estimated really really low.
4 PM: People are asking - If your kids open enroll in another school district, you still vote in the school district where you LIVE. "Live" means "where you sleep at night," not "where you own additional property."

3:20 PM: Our 3 PM call in is done and ICCSD turnout is at 2867, down from 3372 in 2013. Turnout still down at all precincts except City High, but close to 2013 levels at Lemme and Twain.

In our other districts, Solon is at 131, down from 356 at 2013. That drop is way more than the 82 we had at the Votemobile Friday night.

12:25 PM: The Secretary of State's polling place lookup has been updated and now includes school polling places.

Noon: We're doing other stuff today, too: Candidates are still filing for the November 3 city election in all cities except Iowa City and University Heights. The deadline for the other cities is September 17. And there's a lot of interest in Community ID today.

11:39 AM: The mail has arrived and we've received 858 absentee ballots, 736 of those from the Iowa City district. That includes mail, voting at the office, satellite sites, and nursing homes. Details are here (scroll WAY down the page)

14 mailed absentees are not yet returned (13 from ICCSD and one Lone Tree) DO NOT mail them - BRING them to our office or they won't count.

Early voting is way down form 2013, when we counted 1,444 early votes from the ICCSD. The exception is Solon, where thanks to the Votemobile site at Friday's football game, early voting is about double 2013.

11:18 AM: At the 11 AM call in ICCSD turnout is at down from 1648 in 2013. (Remember, the early vote is down as well.) Similar trends to what we saw at 9 AM, with turnout up from 2013 at City High, down slightly at Mann and down more everywhere else.

Things are also quiet in Solon, Clear Creek Amana and Lone Tree.

10:17 AM: People are asking - Names on the ballot start out in alphabetical order, then rotate. The first name alphabetically is listed first in the first precinct, then drops to last in the second precinct and everyone else moves up a notch. This is all specified by law.

If you want to see how this works, and exactly what order the candidates are in on your ballot, the sample ballots are here.

10:06 AM: Someone just brought two ballots in. That's the right thing to do today - do NOT mail ballots today! They needed to be postmarked by Saturday, and if you mail a ballot today it will. not. count.

9:55 AM: People are asking - We've heard reports that some mis-information went out to students about what they need to do to register and vote today.

To do an election day registration, go to your SCHOOL poling place, NOT our office. You'll need ID and proof of address. Details here. We'll need printed paper copies of your stuff; pulling it up on your phone doesn't count unfortunately.

People who are already registered can do a change of address at the polls. Bring ID and go to the school polling place for your NEW address.

9:25 AM: Our first call-in is done and turnout is down most places. In the Iowa City district we're at 635 voters, down from 826 in 2013. Turnout is down in all precincts except Horace Mann and City High, and is only down slightly at Mercer. We're keeping a close eye on turnout all day so we can sent more ballots and/or people if needed.

Turnout is also down in Solon, but they had the heaviest early voting, with 82 people at the Votemobile at Friday's football game.

Clear Creek Amana and Solon are very quiet with no contested races.

8:01 AM: Polls have been open an hour and we aren't hearing about any serious problems. Phones are quieter than they usually are right now. Our first turnout update is an hour away. Turnout updates will be here.

Today you vote at your SCHOOL polling places. For most voters this is different than your regular polling place. Check the list here (bonus: sample ballots!) Android users can also try our Go Vote Johnson County app.

Early voting is down from 2013. Some of that is because we had no early voting yesterday because of Labor Day.

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