Absentee ballot form in next Bee

County auditor’s office is clear: vote absentee

By RICK MORAIN

For The Jefferson Herald

The Bee on July 28 will include as a one-page insert an absentee ballot request form which Greene County voters are invited to use.

The form is a project of the Greene County Auditor’s Office.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, County Auditor Jane Heun and County Election Deputy Billie Hoskins strongly encourage all registered voters in the county to vote absentee in the upcoming November general election.

Heun and Hoskins invite registered voters to use the absentee ballot request form that is being inserted into The Bee. 

“Return the completed form to the auditor’s office using the address provided, or deposit it in the drop box on the east side of the courthouse,” they stated. 

For additional information, call the auditor’s office at 515-386-5680.

To accommodate households that have two resident voters, The Bee insert has two requests on one side of the form and the instructions on the other. 

“Hopefully this will catch the majority of households,” they said.

The request can be photocopied, or voters may call the auditor’s office for additional forms for registered family members.

Voters have been able to request absentee ballots since July 6. The ballots themselves will be mailed to requesters starting Oct. 5. Absentee ballots may also be voted at the courthouse.

Persons wishing to fill out an absentee ballot in person will do so in the first floor east lobby.

If you are not registered to vote, you may register at the auditor’s office.

Registered voters will also be receiving an absentee ballot request from State Auditor Paul Pate.

Prior to the June primary election this year, Pate mailed an absentee ballot request form to every registered voter in Iowa — roughly 2 million residents — in order to protect people from COVID-19. The mass mailing resulted in a record primary election turnout, with nearly 80 percent of votes cast absentee.

However, after the primary election, the Iowa Legislature adopted a bill to prohibit Pate from conducting that mailing for the November general election on his own. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the bill into law.

The bill requires Pate to request permission from the Iowa Legislative Council in order to do the mass mailing. The Legislative Council is composed of 24 legislators, the majority of them Republican.

On July 17, Pate announced he would make that request of the Legislative Council, and the group promptly voted unanimously to approve it. 

It is not known when Pate’s office will mail out the forms. 

Heun and Hoskins said that the county auditor’s office will still insert the form into the July 28 Bee.

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