(Radio Iowa) – One of the county auditors who distributed partially-filled-out forms for requesting absentee ballots says at least 75 percent of the voters in WOODBURY County who mailed BACK those requests have submitted a SECOND form that complies with court rulings. Two district court judges ruled the forms auditors in Woodbury, Linn and Johnson Counties mailed this summer should NOT have included the voter’s address and voter I-D number and should have been blank. Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill. “A big percentage of those folks have already requested a ballot through a different form, so we feel pretty good about that,” Gill says.

Gill says it’s time to move on from the court fight — and focus on in-person early voting. “Most of the people who had their requests invalidated have already requested a new ballot and a lot of them are already showing up at the Long Lines Family Rec Center to vote in-person absentee,” he says. The Iowa Supreme Court intervened yesterday (Tuesday) and issued a stay, setting aside a Polk County District Court judge’s ruling that might have validated some of the nullified absentee ballot request forms in Woodbury, Linn and Johnson Counties.

Two people were arrested on separate charges, Tuesday, in Creston. Authorities say 42-year old Brandie Whitney, of Creston, was arrested at around 1:10-a.m. in the 600 block of S. Maple Street, for Possession of a Controlled Substance/2nd offense, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. Whitney was transported to the Union County Jail, and later released on a $2,300 bond.

And, at around 5:30-p.m. Tuesday, 28-year old Steven White, of Creston, was arrested for Public Intoxication. White was being held in the Union County Jail on a $300 bond.

The State of Iowa’s COVID-19 dashboard today (as of 10-a.m., Wednesday), shows 15 more deaths attributed to the virus have occurred since 10-a.m. Tuesday, for a total of 1,414, including one more in Guthrie County. Deaths attributed to a pre-existing medical condition number 960. There are also 919 new, Positive cases, for a total of 94,342. In the KJAN listening area, there are: four new cases in Cass, Adams & Union Counties; 27 more positive cases in Pottawattamie County; eight additional cases in Guthrie County; seven more cases Harrison County; six each in Adair and Mills Counties; three in Audubon & Shelby Counties; two cases in Montgomery County, and one more case in Madison County.

The IDPH says there have been 3,213 lab results returned since 10-a.m. Tuesday, with 2,873 coming back Negative for the virus, and 329 being positive. The total number of tests administered to-date, amount to 832,909, with 736,998 total Negative results. The 14-day rolling average is 8.6%. Health officials say 73,237 Iowans have recovered from the effects of COVID-19.

Hospitalization data due to COVID-19 show: 444 are hospitalized (compared to 413 Tuesday); 104 patients are in an ICU; 97 people have been admitted to a hospital (previously 61), and 42 COVID patients are on a ventilator. In western/southwest Iowa, 23 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, seven are in an ICU, three were admitted since Tuesday, and one person remains on a ventilator.

There are currently 54 long-term care facilities with coronavirus outbreaks, in Iowa (one less than yesterday). IDPH reports 1,104 positive cases and 613 recoveries within those facilities. There have been 723 deaths in Iowa’s long-term care facilities, six more than reported Tuesday.

In the KJAN listening area, here are the current number positive cases in each county, the number of persons recovered, and the total number of [deaths] (if any), since the pandemic began:

• Cass, 198 cases; 173 recovered; 2 deaths
• Adair, 85; 55; 1
• Adams, 47; 28; 0
• Audubon, 110; 40; 1
• Guthrie, 305; 186; 12
• Harrison County, 340; 185; 5
• Madison County, 273; 189; 2
• Mills County, 239; 144; 1
• Montgomery, 115; 95; 5
• Pottawattamie County, 2,395; 1,863; 41
• Shelby County, 291; 264; 1
• Union County,  159; 108; 3