People Are Asking: Local Option Sales Tax Insert with Mailed Ballots

Our office is receiving inquiries about an insert mailed with absentee ballots which includes local option sales tax language.

For the five contiguous cities voting as a unit on the ballot measure - Coralville, Iowa City, North Liberty, Tiffin and University Heights - the full text of the ballot measure was too long to include on the ballot. For these five cities, only a summary of the measure is included on the ballot. The full text of the measure is included on a half-sheet insert labeled NOTICE.

Voters in the five contiguous cities should read this language before marking their ballots. The NOTICE insert is not a ballot, and does not need to be marked or returned.

The NOTICE insert is included with all mailed ballots. Voters who live in Hills, Lone Tree, Oxford, Shueyville, Solon, Swisher, West Branch and unincorporated Johnson County will see the full text of their sales tax issue on their ballots, and may ignore the insert.

Status of mailed absentee ballots

Johnson County has experienced some delays in the delivery of mailed absentee ballots. Ballots are on the way to voters and should be delivered this week. Some voters have reported receiving ballots in the mail today.

Due to concerns about ballot delivery during the 2012 presidential election, our office is using a new service provided by our ballot printer to mail and track ballots. We expect this system will save significant expense and staff time as the election continues. However, making sure it is working properly had meant some delay in the beginning of the mailed ballot program.

In the future, we hope to expand this program to allow voters to track the progress of their own mailed ballots. For now, we encourage voters to be patient through the first part of this week. Voter with specific concerns, such as travel plans, should contact our office.

Polling Place Changes Announced

Twelve Johnson County precincts will have different polling places this year than they had in the 2012 presidential election. Five of these changes are new for the November 4 election. The other changes took effect in other recent elections.

Most of these changes are required to increase accessibility for voters with disabilities. Officials in Cedar and Newport Townships are working with our office to make accessibility and other improvements to their long time polling sites, and those precincts will not be moving this election.

The following changes are new for the November 4 election. Voters in these precincts will be mailed new voter cards listing new locations within the next week.

Clear Creek Township and City of Tiffin
New location: Tiffin City Hall, 300 Railroad St. (Old location: Clear Creek Amana High)

Coralville Precinct 2

New Location: Brown Deer Golf Club, 1900 Country Club Dr. (Old location: Grant Wood AEA)

Iowa City Precinct 11

New location: University of Iowa Main Library, 125 W Washington St. (Old location: County Courthouse)

Fremont-Lincoln Townships and City of Lone Tree
New location: American Legion, 300 N. Devoe St. This site was used as a temporary location in the 2013 school and city elections, and will now be a permanent location. (Old location: Lone Tree School)

Graham Township

New Location: Celebration Farm, 4696 Robin Woods Ln NE. (old location: Morse Community Center) Note that Newport Township will still vote at St. Mary’s Newport Church.

The remaining changes were made for other recent elections and voters were mailed cards earlier.

Coralville Precinct 4

Coralville City Hall, 1512 7th St. (Old location: Recreation Center)

City of Hills and Liberty-Pleasant Valley Townships (two separate precincts)

Hills Community Center, 110 Main St E. (Old locations: Hills Fire Station for city of Hills, Hills Elementary School for Liberty-Pleasant Valley)               

Iowa City Precinct 4

School of Art & Art History Building, 150 Art Building West, 141 N Riverside Drive. (Old location: Lincoln School)

Iowa City Precinct 10 and East Lucas Southwest

Terry Trueblood Recreation Area, 4213 Sand Rd SE. (Old location: Iowa City Parks & Forestry)

Iowa City Precinct 16
Mercer Park Recreation Center, 2701 Bradford Dr. (Old location: Lucas School)

City of Solon

Solon City Hall, 101 N Iowa St. (Old location: Fire Station)