Johnson and Linn Counties are the two largest counties in the 2nd Congressional District, so it can be said as they go, so goes the district. In the general election, 113,721 Linn County voters (a 77.74% turnout) and 73,231 Johnson County voters (79.41% turnout)made it to the polls. As the suburban parts of Johnson County continue to grow at a faster rate than Iowa City, it can be expected that the electorate will trend toward Linn County's numbers as that part of the county has seen a growth in more conservative voters.
Below are comparisons by electoral race between Johnson and Linn Counties:
Johnson County Senatorial US Senate Tom Harkin (D)- 52,741 (75%) Christopher Reed (R) - 17,537 (25%) Write In - 135 (0%)
Linn County Senatorial Tom Harkin Dem - 74373 (67%) Christopher Reed - Rep 36662 (33%) Write-in Votes - 141 (0%)
Johnson County Congressional US Rep (2nd Dist) Dave Loebsack (D) - 45,247 (65%) Mariannette Miller-Meeks -(R) 20,680 (30%) Wendy Barth (G) - 2,109 (3%) Brian White (NP) - 1,476 (2%) Write In - 74 (0%)
Linn County Congressional Dave Loebsack Dem - 64212 (59%) M. Miller-Meeks Rep - 41784 (38%) Wendy Barth GRN - 2090 (2%) Brian White NBP - 1311 (1%) Write-in Votes - 95 (0%)
One outcome that was true in both of the counties, it was a bad year to be a Socialist.
With slightly more than 21% of the registered voters in Johnson County weighing in, the 2008 election is 3% behind 2004's turnout. However, it continues to trend ahead of the 2004 election in total voting with early voting statistics thrown in, as early voting was up 6% over 2004.
The outlying county voters continue to turnout in higher proportions than their Coralville and Iowa City neighbors. Excluding Iowa City and Coralville, 27% of the vote has turned out in North Liberty, Tiffin, Oxford, Solon, Hills, and the rest of the county with a total of 7,486 votes. Iowa City has a 18% turnout (9,625 votes) and Coralville's turnout is 20% (2,383).
With early voting and today's turnout, we can possibly expect a total turnout of over 80%, which would be the highest turnout in Iowa's history. "It is going to be a record," said Michael Mauro, the state's top election official. "Not only in Iowa but across the country people are making a statement. We are seeing these phenomenal numbers."
If you haven't voted, you can do so until 9 pm tonight. If you are not registered, you can do it (using a provisional ballot) at your polling place.
Note: This story has been updated to reflect an important correction to the vote count which is cumulative, not "point in time". My apologies to readers and sincere thanks to John who caught this error. Back after 3 pm's update.
Voters are coming out in higher numbers after a slow start at the polls. According to the Johnson County Auditor's office, almost 13% of all registered voters (11,788) have voted at the polls with over 9 hours left to go. 18% of registered voters in smaller communities outside of Iowa City and Coralville have already voted, while Coralville is at slightly more than 12% turnout and Iowa City is hovering just at 10%.
Some precincts' turnout of note: Johnson County Cedar: 30% Jefferson West: 26% Jefferson East: 25% Solon and Big Grove: 23%
In Coralville Grant Woood AEA: 14% Wickham: 13% Coralville Recreation Ctr.: 13%
How does your Senator or Congressman rank on votes that are against torture?
The NRCAT Action Fund Congressional Vote Scorecards may be useful to you as you consider your vote. The Scorecards rate all incumbent Members of Congress on their torture-related votes.
I neglected to add all the candidates on Iowa's ballot to the poll on the upper right of the screen. So I've restarted the poll with all the choices listed in alphabetical order. Feel free to vote again or for the first time.
As if you needed more reasons to vote...From 866 Our Vote
Make sure your vote is counted---Print the info below and take it with you. Don't let a pollworker tell you you can't vote. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Upcoming Elections 2008 General Election: 11/4/08
Polling Place Hours: 7 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Voter Registration Information Click here for an Iowa Voter Registration Guide created by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and its pro bono law firm partners.
Registration Deadlines As of January 1, 2008, voters may register up to, and on election day.
2008 General Election Registration Deadline: 10/25/2008
Identification Required for Registration The registration form will ask you to provide one of the following:
Registration After the Deadline for Registration At any time before Election Day, if you appear in person at the commissioner's office or at a satellite absentee voting station after the deadline for registration, you may register to vote and vote an absentee ballot. To do so, you must complete a voter registration application, make a written oath, and provide proof of identity and residence.
You may establish identity and residence by providing one of the following, provided such identification contains your photo and an expiration date: A current and valid Iowa driver's license or Iowa nonoperator's identification card An out-of-state driver's license or nonoperator's identification card. A United States passport. A United States military identification card. An identification card issued by an employer. A student identification card issued by an Iowa high school or an Iowa postsecondary educational institution. If the photo identification presented does not contain your current address in the precinct, you shall also present one of the following documents that shows your name and address in the precinct: Residential lease. Property tax statement. Utility bill. Bank statement. Paycheck. Government check. Other government document. You may establish identity and residency in the precinct by written oath of a person who is registered to vote in the precinct. Election Day Registration If you are eligible to register to vote and to vote, you may register on Election Day by appearing in person at the polling place for the precinct in which you live and by following the above procedure. How to Check Registration Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE
Voting Information Identification Required to Vote If you register by mail and have not previously voted in a federal election in the county of registration, you will be required to provide identification documents when voting for the first time in the county unless you provided on the registration form your Iowa driver's license number, or your Iowa nonoperator's identification card number, or the last four numerals of your social security number. If you vote in person at the polls, or by absentee ballot at the commissioner's office or at a satellite voting station, you must provide a current and valid photo identification card, or one of the following current documents that shows your name and address:
Utility bill. Bank statement. Paycheck. Government check. Other government document. If you vote with an absentee ballot by mail, you must provide a photocopy of one of these documents when returning the absentee ballot.
How to Find Your Polling Place Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE
Absentee Voting Click here to visit GoVoteAbsentee.org, a resource for absentee voters.
Any registered voter may vote by absentee ballot at any election:
When, during the time the polls are open on Election Day, the voter expects to be absent from the precinct in which he/she is a registered voter. When, through illness or physical disability, the voter expects to be prevented from going to the polls and voting on Election Day. When the voter expects to be unable to go to the polls and vote on Election Day. Download the Absentee Ballot Application here.
Rules and Deadlines:
Voters requesting absentee ballots by mail may submit a request at anytime before an election but must do so by 5 p.m. the Friday before the election. (2008 General Election Deadline: 5 p.m. on 10/31/2008.)
On Election Day, voters who have been issued an absentee ballot but have not yet returned their absentee ballot to their county auditor have the following options: - The voter may deliver the ballot to the county auditor's office before the polls close on Election Day. - The voter can "surrender" the absentee ballot at the polling place for the precinct in which the voter is registered to vote. The voter will then be allowed to vote a regular ballot at the polling place.
If a voter cannot "surrender" the absentee ballot at the polling place, the voter will be allowed to vote a provisional ballot.
If returned by mail, the ballot must be clearly postmarked by the day before the election by an officially authorized postal service and received by the county auditor's office no later than noon on the Monday following the election.
Johnson County has a record number of registered voters and a record number of absentee ballot requests at this point in time.
The Johnson County Auditor's Office is in need of Democratic pollworkers for the upcoming General Election. As of today, we are about 35 Democrats short of being fully staffed and 90 short of being staffed with the desired number of backups (One Democrat per precinct).
We need to get our message to a large number of Democrats in a relatively short amount of time, and we are contacting you and your organization for additional assistance.
We ask that workers commit to working the whole day, which runs from 5:30 a.m. to roughly 9:30 p.m. While the hours are long, pollworkers are compensated at $10/hr and $15/hr for any hours over 8 in a day. We reimburse all parking fully and pay $0.49 per mile driven to and from the polling site. There is a paid School of Instruction the 28th, 29th or 30th of October (workers attend 1 of the 3) at 6:30 pm in Montgomery Hall on the Johnson County Fairgrounds.
If you know people who are willing to work, please contact or have them contact Nate Mueller or any of the elections staff at the Auditor's Office (356-6004) as soon as possible.
Here are some new links I have found (or been directed to) over the weekend. Given the quickly approaching election, it might not be a bad idea to check them out, particularly if you are concerned how the next four years might go:
At 11:45 this primary election day morning I was the 57th vote at Iowa City's precinct 17. I got to chat with J.C. Dem Tom Carsner's Mom, Virginia, who is one of the willing and able pollworkers. As of 11 am, 719 voters have turned out to cast a ballot in Johnson County. It almost seems like a waste of democracy, doesn't it?
By the way, if you haven't voted and decide to write-in a candidate in a race where there is no competitor, you must also bubble in the oval next to "write-in" for it to be counted.
Hopefully because of the early torrential rains in the area, the turnout will increase later today.
It may be too early to tell, but that has never stopped trendspotters, augurers, and pundits...
Traders on the Iowa Electronic Markets, which have been predicting U.S. elections with surprising accuracy for 20 years, are expecting a tight presidential vote next year, with the Democrat narrowly defeating the Republican.
And the most likely match-up? Hillary Clinton vs. Rudy Giuliani.
The non-profit market, run by professors at the University of Iowa in the key early voting state and allowed to operate since 1988 by special permission, is unique in the United States because it is the only one where investors put real money -- small amounts under $500 -- on the line. It was started by the academics to see if markets, which are good at translating economic and financial information into a price, would be as good at synthesizing political information.
Joyce Berg, an accounting professor and member of the Iowa markets board, said the markets turned out to be better than national polls in predicting the final election results just days before the vote.
They scored even better against polls the farther away they were from the election. "In just about 75 percent of the cases," Berg said, "the price in the market is closer to the actual outcome of the election than the polls were."
But Berg cautioned the numbers were constantly shifting as new information reached the market. Candidates can surge and plummet.
"It's not like you look in the magic crystal ball and you can see what's going to happen in the future," she said. "It's pulling together all the available information that's out there, saying ... this is what we think is going to happen."
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