Election Day, early voting keeps Auditor’s Office busy

     “We have been prepping and planning for this (election) for months. It’s hard to imagine. I had been anticipating Election Day for a very very long time. I knew it was going to get busy and crazy and stressful.

   “I have a wonderful staff who supports me and is willing to work the extra-long hours with a smile on their faces. We take it very seriously and put in the hours to make sure that it’s a success and a safe and secure election. We’re following the law to a ‘T.’

   “Iowa has some of the best parameters for election laws. A lot of guidance goes into that from the Secretary of State. The elections in Jones County are very safe and secure.”

   Those words were shared by Jones County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Whitney Hein days following the Nov. 5, 2024, General Election.

   The 14 precincts in Jones County were quite busy on Election Day, with over 77 percent voter turnout.

   Between 7-8 a.m., voters were lined up inside the Berndes Center to cast their ballots before heading to work or school.

   “It was a huge line,” noted Precinct Chair Deb Bowman. “There were 50-60 people lined up.”

   By noon, 813 people had voted in Monticello. By 5 p.m., almost 1,500.

   “We’ve been pleased with the number of young people and first-time voters,” remarked Bowman. “It’s been exciting.”

   “A huge thank you goes out to our dedicated, loyal, hardworking Precinct Election Officials who worked the 2024 General Election!” Hein posted on the “Jones County Iowa Elections” Facebook page. “Our democracy is only as strong as those who work tirelessly to uphold it. Today, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Precinct Election Officials who served our community during the 2024 General Election. Your dedication and hard work helped ensure that every voice was heard and every vote counted.”

   Turnout for this Presidential Election falls between the 2016 General Election (75 percent) and the 2020 General Election (78.4 percent).

   “I feel 77 percent is good,” commented Hein.

   She said what helped turnout in 2020 was the absentee ballot request forms sent out to voters from the Secretary of State due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

   But it was early voting that surpassed Hein’s expectations!

   “In-person voting blew us away,” she said.

   This was Hein’s first presidential election, so she didn’t have anything to compare it to. But her office staff felt that if they saw 100 voters a day during early voting, that was a good thing.

   “We had a total of 3,141 in-person absentees, starting on Oct. 16,” Hein said. “We had 15 days that we were open for in-person absentee voting. We average 209.4 voters a day. Our lowest day was 140 voters; our highest day was 358. That’s great!”

   In-person absentee voting amounted to 28 percent of Jones County registered voters.

   Mail-in absentee ballots were 14 percent, 1,600 voters.

   “The request for mail-in ballots wasn’t as high as I hoped it would be,” she said.

   This year there was a shortened window in terms of voters mailing their absentee ballots back to their county auditor’s office, as well as a shortened timeframe for in-person absentee voting.

   Hein said there were some postal service issues in terms of absentee ballot request forms getting to voters, ballots getting to voters, and voters’ completed ballots getting back to the auditor’s office.

   “Some people, we could tell by the date they signed their request forms, and they mailed it to us, it only took a couple of days,” she said. “There were other people we were noticing that it took 10-11 days to get to us. Those were mainly on the ones that we received after the request deadline.”

   Absentee request forms were due in to auditor’s office by 5 p.m. on Oct. 21.

   “If we received the request form after that deadline, we call them and notify them that we can’t mail them a ballot and give them their options for voting,” continued Hein.

   Some voters who reside part of the year outside of Jones County claimed they never received their absentee ballot.

   “Obviously, mail gets lost,” noted Hein.

   In that case, the resident signs an affidavit saying they never received a ballot, and the auditor’s office can send out another ballot or they have to vote in-person on Election Day.

   “That original ballot is voided in the system so if it does come back, it’d be flagged and not counted,” Hein said.

   As of Nov. 8, Hein’s office had received five UOCAVA (Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) ballots.

   “Those will still be able to be counted; they had to be postmarked by Nov. 4,” said Hein. “They will be counted on Tuesday, Nov. 12 when the special precinct board meets.”

   Aside from a record number of early voters, there was also a lot of people registering to vote on Election Day.

   “We just printed the Election Day registrant report this morning (Nov. 8),” noted Hein. “There were 294 people who registered to vote on Election Day in Jones County.”

   Over 100 people registered at the courthouse during early voting, too.

   Surprisingly, there were no provisional ballots.

   “The main issue with provisionals is people don’t have a proof of residency,” said Hein. “They work really hard to try and walk the voters through all of their options as far as attestors and pulling up a utility bill on their phone, etc.”

   Overall, Hein said Election Day put off without any major incidents at the polls, with the exception of computer/technology issues.

   “Most people were pleasant and patient and willing to wait if they had to,” said Hein. “Election Day is always chaotic for the poll workers, especially when a line starts forming. Anybody would start to feel that pressure.”

   Unlike past General Elections, one change was made inside the Berndes Center, which serves Monticello 1, 2, 3, and 4, as well as Castle Grove, Lovell, and Wayne townships. Instead of one line to vote and one line to feed ballots into the tabulator, Hein made the decision to split the facility into two voting stations: One for City of Monticello residents and one for rural residents.

   “This is the first time we’ve done that,” Hein said of splitting the precinct. “We knew that there was going to be more city voters than rural voters; however, we dedicated the same number of resources to each side. The reason was to hopefully curb lines. Two years ago, for the governor’s election, we had a line out the door. By splitting it in half, we were able to double the resources. The main reason was to have two tabulators in the polling place. It takes almost four seconds per ballot to feed through the tabulator. Two years ago, there was also a line at the tabulator to get the ballots inserted.”

   By 4:30 p.m., with a line forming at the Berndes Center, another laptop and poll worker was brought in to help get voters through the line. Instead of five computers checking voters in, that allowed for six.

   This election required 67 poll workers in Jones County. Fifteen of those were first-timers. Eight people are part of the special precinct board; five people assisted with healthcare facility voting.

   “I did want to make sure we were staffed well,” noted Hein. “I based my numbers off my experience with the governor’s election two years ago. They were so busy then they weren’t getting breaks. But they also don’t like to be bored at the polls. I staffed them heavily so hopefully they could take breaks and not feel as pressured on Election Day.”

   It takes a lot of training to work at the polls. Poll workers are paid $175 a day; $225 for precinct chairs, plus mileage.

   Hein held mandatory trainings on Oct. 24 in Anamosa and Oct. 25 in Monticello, lasting four hours each. There was also an optional training on Oct. 11 for an hour and a half with Sheriff Greg Graver.

   “That was a security and safety training,” Hein said. “There was a lot of hype in the news and media about all these bad things that could potentially happen and angry voters. I want them to be prepared if something would happen. To also put their minds at ease a little bit and give them some tools to be prepared such as de-escalation techniques. We talked a lot about ‘see something say something.’”

   Then on Nov. 1, precincts chairs were asked to attend a training to follow-up on any last-minute questions and preparation before Election Day.

   The training didn’t stop there. Hein’s office, the deputy auditors, and Hein herself put in countless hours to get ready for Election Day.

   For early voting, Hein hired three temporary staff members to help count absentee ballots and assist at early in-person voting. From Oct. 1 through Nov. 4, those three worked a total of 402 hours.

   The auditor’s office staff worked their normal 40 hours a week, plus an extra 300 hours on top of that, starting Oct. 1.

   “My staff has only had one day off since Oct. 21,” Hein said. “The only day we took off is Sunday, Oct. 27.”

   Her office was also supported by the Sheriff’s Office, Emergency Management, GIS, IT, and Conservation.

   “I used some equipment from EMA and the sheriff as far as a delivery trailer,” Hein said. “We had the vehicle barricades set up in front of polling places with garage doors, such as the Berndes Center. That would be potentially an easy target for a vehicle to drive through the garage doors and create an issue inside on Election Day. At the Lawrence Community Center, the back parking lot isn’t well lit. So we used a light tower on a generator to light up the whole parking lot. The Sheriff’s Office was a courier service at the end of the night, as well the Conservation Park Ranger.

   “It’s a very collaborative effort. It takes more than just my office. I’m glad I have the support of the other people.”