Plan Ahead for the November 5, 2024 General Election

September 4, 2024

Guest Column by Whitney Hein, Jones County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections

The November 5th General Election is now less than nine weeks away. It is not too early to start thinking about how you are going to cast your vote in this election. Are you going to vote via an absentee ballot or in-person either at the polls or in-person absentee at the Auditor’s office ahead of election day?

                Election day can often creep up on voters and now is the time to start thinking about your schedule on November 5th. Presidential General Elections are the highest turnout elections that we have in Jones County, across Iowa, and across the nation. Polls open at 7:00 a.m. and close at 8:00 p.m. What does your schedule look like that day? Do you have to report to work? Do your children or grandchildren have extra-curricular activities that you need to attend in the evening? Are you going to be on vacation? Will you have moved south for the winter before Election Day?

These are all factors to consider when thinking about whether you will be available to go to the polls on Election Day. You will also want to consider the amount of time it may take you at the polls. General Elections generally have very full ballots as there are more races on the ballot than just the Presidential race. If a voter chooses to vote the entire ballot, it could take 10 minutes or more to go through the entire ballot. While I started planning months ago on how to move voters efficiently through the polling places and looking at ways to reduce the risk of long lines forming, the one factor that I cannot control as Auditor is when voters show up to the polls. Two years ago, at the Gubernatorial General Election, there were some polling locations that did have a line to vote during peak times such as the later afternoon and early evening when folks were enroute home from work.

If you know you will not be in the county on election day or know you have prior obligations, now is the time to think about if you want to vote absentee. The Auditor’s office is currently accepting absentee ballot request forms for absentee ballots to be sent via mail. The deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail is October 21st at 5:00 p.m. It is important to note that if you have already turned in an absentee ballot request or are going to be turning one in soon, ballots cannot be sent out until October 16th.

If you prefer to vote absentee but do not want to vote by mail, you can vote absentee in-person in the Auditor’s office. Ballots will be available to vote in-person starting on October 16th through November 4th. The in-person absentee voting hours are generally Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. There are some extended hours as well. The Auditor’s office will remain open until 5:00 p.m. on October 21st and November 1st for absentee voting. On Saturday, November 2nd, the Auditor’s office will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for in-person absentee voting.

Federal law requires special absentee voting accommodations for uniformed military and overseas citizens. If this applies to you, a family member, or friend, please reach out to the Auditor’s office for options.

                Please reach out to the Auditor’s office at 319-462-2282 if you have any questions or if you would like an absentee ballot request form sent to you. The Jones County Iowa Elections website (www.jonescountyiowaelections.gov) is also a good resource for voter information and you can print your own absentee ballot request form from this website.