Republicans come out strong in General Election

Voter turnout in Jones County for the 2016 General Election was not at its all-time highest, but it set a record none-the-less.

With 13,697 registered voters in the county, 10,223 voted on Tuesday, Nov. 8, with a 74.6 percent turnout. 

As of Nov. 9, Secretary of State Paul Pate’s Office said that over 1.56 million Iowans voted in this election.

 

At roughly the midpoint of Iowa’s lengthy early-voting period, ballot requests and returns offer ammunition for both parties to claim lagging enthusiasm by opponents' voters.

 

The Democratic early-vote machine is running ahead of its 2014 midterm numbers but is underperforming its success in the 2012 presidential race. The Republican effort is generating more ballot requests than in 2012 but is finding less success in getting those votes to the ballot box.

 

As of Thursday — the 22nd day of Iowa’s 40-day voting window, which began in late September and runs through Nov. 7 — Democrats had banked 114,737 votes from their registered voters statewide, compared with 75,782 votes cast by registered Republicans.

 

So, Democrats dominate at this point. But there's more to the story.

 

For one thing, an additional 44,732 votes also have been cast by independent “no party” voters, whose preferences in the presidential race and other key contests are not so easily surmised as those of self-identified Democrats and Republicans.

 

For another, Democrats have traditionally excelled at early voting, while Republicans typically dominate Election Day returns and have only recently pursued a robust early-vote program.

 

Overall, early-vote turnout in Iowa appears to be lagging other states in which presidential candidates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are campaigning heavily, said Mark Stephenson, a data science expert who worked on Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s 2014 campaign here.

 

That may be an indication of flagging enthusiasm amid a stridently negative presidential race and a U.S. Senate contest in which Republican incumbent Chuck Grassley holds a large lead in recent polls over Democratic Patty Judge.