Things You Need to Know: Early/Absentee Voting in Iowa

Thanks to the Republican-controlled state government in Iowa, a couple important things have changed if you choose to vote early. :

• While you do not have to show an ID to vote, you do need to include your driver's license or other approved ID on your absentee/early voting request to receive an absentee ballot or to register to vote.

• According to the Johnson County Auditor's Office: "Under the new Voter ID law, early voters do not have to show their ID, but are required to write their Iowa driver’s license or non-driver ID number on their request form. Voters who do not have an Iowa license or non-driver ID will need to write down the PIN number from their voter card instead. Contact our office with any questions."

• According to the Iowa Secretary of State office: "The request form must be received in the county auditor's office by 5 p.m. on the Friday, eleven days before the election. If the request is for the general election, the deadline to request a ballot by mail is the Saturday, ten days before the election." In this case, it is by this Friday, 5/25/18.

Also, if you do not have a party affiliation, you will need to declare one to vote in the primary. This can be done on-site or made by completing an absentee ballot request which must be mailed to your county auditor's office.

If all else fails, you can vote in person on June 5th. If you are not registered to vote, go here. If you are, but don't know where to vote, go here to find your precinct/polling place.

The important thing: inform yourself about the issues you care about, think about who is likely to do the things you believe are right and, please, Go Vote!

Post-Primary Mini-Dissection

It was a great day to be a local incumbent in Johnson County as all of them made it through the primary either unopposed or winning by large margins. It was also a very good day for women candidates of all parties as US Senatorial candidate Roxanne Conlin, US House candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks, and Iowa House candidate Sandra Greiner withstood multiple challengers. On the other hand, in state- and national-level politics, it was not a good day to be a staunch conservative, as more moderate candidates were successful in defeating their "I'm more conservative than you" adversaries.

Voter turnout in Johnson County was an abysmal 10%, but showed that registered Republicans were more excited about the primary than their Democrat counterparts as more party faithful on the R side voted in the primary. A look at the early voter stats showed that Republicans won over Democrats in upping their membership for the primary. So what does this mean come November? It means that both parties will be working on turning out registered voters. It means that incumbents in challenged races will have to remind people why they should keep them around. It means that even in the Republic of Johnson County, there are those who aren't thrilled with the status quo on a state and nationwide level. However, the only thing that is stronger than the winds of change are the doldrums of apathy--and that will be what both parties will be dedicating themselves to defeat.

LOST In Johnson County

It's March and local elections are around the corner in Johnson County. First up is a May 5th referendum for a local option sales tax (LOST) of one cent.

In Iowa City and Coralville, the referendum looks like this:

"A local sales and services tax shall be imposed in the city of Iowa City at the rate of one percent (1%) to be effective from July 1, 2009, until June 30, 2013.
Revenues from the sales and services tax shall be allocated as follows:
0% for property tax relief.

The specific purpose for which the revenues shall otherwise be expended is:
100% for remediation, repair and protection of flood impacted public infrastructure,
and local matching funds for dollars received from any federal or state programs to
assist with flood remediation, repair and protection of flood impacted public infrastructure."

This looks good on paper, but as state and federal revenues decrease, there is no guarantee that these projects will be supported at the levels they would need to be without other supports (e.g. rate hikes on water bills). For instance the Iowa City plan would call for about $59 million dollars from state and federal sources beyond the taxes collected via the LOST.

In North Liberty, the purpose "100% for the construction and improvement of city streets, including but not limited to Highway 965." You can add your own punchline here.

In Tiffin, it gets more interesting as 25% is for park and recreation
improvements and 75% for community improvements including sidewalk, street, public safety, water and sewer improvements and any other lawful purposes of the City of Tiffin. I don't know what that lawful purpose could be, but if, for instance, the mayor, Royce Phillips, gets a raise, you voted for it.

However, look what happens in the unincorporated area of the county, the extra penny will be for "50% for property tax relief in the unincorporated area of the
county of Johnson." and the other 50% for "improvement and/or maintenance of Johnson County secondary roads and bridges."

In unincorporated Johnson County, there is significant agriculture and it could be argued that there is some relief needed because of the flooding last year. However there are some very nice pieces of prime real estate that are out there that forward thinking developers could jump on in the next four years that would become very attractive to home buyers knowing that their taxes would be significantly lower than their urban neighbors. Of course, with some improved roads thrown in there, wouldn't you want to jump on that bandwagon? I'd throw up a sign that says "Johnson County Welcome Sprawlers."

The best solution for the long-term health of the communities is one that isn't on the table. State Senator Joe Bolkcom tried to get a bill considered to allow localities to impose a local income tax. This is the fairest way for projects to be paid for, as it is a equitable tax which has the added feature of making sure everybody can pay what they can afford and for cities to take on projects that they can sell.