Data shows Democrats, older Iowans use absentee ballots most
IOWA CITY | Democrats and older Iowans would have to adjust their early voting habits the most if a bill passing the Iowa House requires absentee ballots to be in county auditors hands by the time polls close on Election Day.
Republicans would see an impact too, legislators say, but they vote in person on Election Day with more frequency than Democrats, those registered for no party and Iowans 65 and older, an IowaWatch analysis of voting data in general elections during the last 20 years shows.
Regardless of who feels the impact, Republican and Democratic state legislators trying to amend Iowas absentee voter registration law agree that changes are critical because ballots are not being counted when they probably should be.
The reason: U.S. post offices are not putting time-stamped postmarks on many of the absentee ballots. So we are throwing ballots out, and we dont want to do that, said Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls.
Iowa law says absentee ballots may arrive after Election Day if they bear a postmark of up to the day before the scheduled vote.
But a bill that passed the Iowa House 56-41 on March 11 would require absentee ballots arrive at county auditors offices by the time polls close on Election Day in order to be counted. An exception would be given to military personnel and their families and others working outside the country who apply for ballots and return them by mail in time to be counted.
Some in the Senate think ballots clearly postmarked by the day before an election and received by the elections office by noon the following Monday to be counted, as well as any ballot received by 5 p.m. the day after the election.
Danielson, chairman of the State Government Committee where the matter now rests, said differences in what the House and Senate propose are not deal breakers. I think they can actually be resolved, he said.
Rep. Quentin Stanerson, R-Center Point and floor manager of the bill passing the House, was equally optimistic.
The language of their bill and our bill is similar, he said.
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Data shows Democrats, older Iowans use absentee ballots most