(Radio Iowa) – Well over half a MILLION Iowans have already voted in this year’s election. Becky Bissell — president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors — says that’s about 25 percent of registered voters.  “We have been seeing some pretty good turnout for absentee voting,” Bissell says. “…That takes a bit of the pressure off of the polling places on election day and a little bit of the pressure off our poll workers.” Nearly a million ballots were cast before election day four years ago, as many Iowa voters opted for mail-in voting during the pandemic.

Bissell, who is the Adams County Auditor, says early voting in Iowa this year is similar to 2016. “For Adams County in 2020, we had about 1200 absentee voters,” Bissell says. “In 2016, we had about 900 and right now we’re on pace for that 900 mark.” The majority of ballots that have already been cast this year are from Iowans who went to their county auditor’s office or a satellite location to vote.

For those who requested an absentee ballot, got it in the mail, but haven’t mailed it back yet — Bissell has some advice. “I just can’t stress enough that if you requested an absentee ballot by mail, make sure you get those in. We no longer go off of the postmark on the envelope. You have to have it in to the auditor’s office by 8 p.m. on Election Day, so if you still have an absentee ballot, make sure you’re getting it turned back in,” Bissell says. “I think your best bet would be to hand deliver it back to the auditor’s office.”

Election workers may begin counting the early “absentee” votes at 7 a.m. on Election Day. That’s the same time all neighborhood precincts open for in-person voting. “We cannot release any results until 8 p.m. after the polls close on Election Day,” Bissell says, “so as soon as 8 p.m. rolls around, you could start to see some absentee results come in.” By 7 a.m. YESTERDAY (Thursday), over 517-thousand early votes had been cast in Iowa.

At some point TODAY (Friday), state officials will release an updated report on the number of registered voters in Iowa.

(Radio Iowa) – Secretary of State Paul Pate is being sued for directing election workers to challenge the ballots of over two-thousand people who he says got a driver’s license when they were legal residents, but may not be U-S citizens. The lawsuit has been filed in federal court on behalf of the League of United Latin American Citizens and a group of naturalized citizens. Orcun Selcuckor, a political science professor at Luther College in Decorah, is a native of Turkey. He became a U-S citizen in 2023 and then voted in two previous Iowa elections.

Selcuckor says he’s concerned about other Iowans who are new citizens and may not have the time to return to the county auditor’s office and prove they are citizens, as he did — or may be discouraged from voting altogether. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says she’ll defend the effort to ensure non-citizens do not vote.

The lawsuit alleges the secretary of state’s order discriminates against voters based on their natural origin and their status as naturalized citizens and violates a person’s constitutional right to vote. Secretary of State Pate says none of the people on his list are barred from voting since their voter registration has not been revoked and they will be able to vote if they show proof of citizenship.

(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa is seeking approval from the Board of Regents for a purchase that would give it full ownership of a downtown Iowa City mall. The purchase would cover 45 percent of Old Capitol Town Center, which the school does not own, at a cost of nearly 21 million dollars. The mall is two blocks from the center of the main the U-I campus. The university has been using the portion of the building it owns for what it calls a U-I student and staff transaction hub.

The information for next week’s board meeting says the school would continue developing the mall spaces to serve student and operational needs. the university plans to continue to maintain the retail space to help offset the costs.