Here’s a couple of photos of voters waiting in line to receive absentee ballots at 11:30am. The line stretches from the Elections Office to the County Assessor.
We’re open until 9pm tonight and 8am-9pm on Saturday.
We’re not open on Sunday. Our office hours on Monday are from 8am-5pm (we have to prepare for the election).
Photos courtesy of Jason Siebrecht. Click on them to enlarge them.
The following precincts have submitted 700 or more absentee ballot requests to my office. By polling place they are:
Marion 2-3 – Squaw Creek Baptist Church – 1410 44th ST = 858
CR23 – Oakland Church of the Nazarene – 3000 42nd ST NE = 797
CR9 – Van Buren Elementary School – 2525 29th ST SW = 731
CR10 – Moose Lodge – 1820 West Post RD SW = 722
CR41 – Bethany Lutheran Church – 2202 Forest DR SE = 720
That’s one each in Marion, NE CR, SE CR, and two in SW CR.
Even though two Democrats are requesting absentee ballots for every one Republican, in a few precincts Republicans have requested more absentee ballots than Democrats. Republicans are outdoing the Democrats in these precincts: CR23, Boulder Township, Jackson Township, Monroe 1, Robins, Linn-Mar, Squaw Creek, Marion 4-1, Otter Creek Township, and Spring Grove Township.
No Party aka independents are outdoing the Rs and Ds in Boulder Township.
And in Maine Township, the Ds, Rs, and NPs are tied at 14 requests each.
If traditional wisdom says that Rs cast many fewer absentee ballots than Ds, then you have to wonder why the Rs in the precincts noted above are outdoing the Ds?
For daily updates on absentee ballot statistics and voter registration numbers, go to http://twitter.com/lcauditor
Yesterday, we received our first request for information on the judges on ballot. Maybe we’ve received other requests and this is the first to come to my attention. After a little digging, I found one source and Deputy Tim Box found another. Maybe there are others?
In any case, these two links provide more information on our judges than ever before. Enjoy!
I just received my newsletter from IACREOT and noticed that Joan was sworn in as the 2nd Vice President of this international organization. Congratulations Joan! And Thank You for representing Linn County and Iowa in this organization.
Linn County Voters who have a temporary or permanent change to their voting location are being sent postcards indicating the name and address of the new location. A total of thirteen (13) voting locations have been changed due to the flood and/or a need to comply with space or ADA requirements.
The postcard is being sent to each household in the county that is affected by the change in voting location.
Residents are encouraged to register to vote or update their voter registration by Saturday, October 25, 2008. Those who do not register or update their registration by the 25th may do so on Election Day, but may experience a delay in voting. Persons who register to vote on Election Day will need to provide proof of identity and residence.
Registration forms may be found on the Auditor’s website.
The Elections Office is located at Westdale Mall on the 2nd level. Hours are Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Send mail to Linn County Elections, PO Box 1328, Cedar Rapids, IA 52406. The phone number is 892-5300.
First Deputy Becky Shoop produced a public service announcement for area radio stations with the help of Mo Holland at KZIA studios. Click here to listen to it. I think it sounds great! Thanks Mo!
I posted the comment below on 24-Hour Dorman. In case you did not see it there, you can read it here.
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Yesterday (10/8), I talked to Supervisor Langston and we discussed Westdale Mall. I shared some of these thoughts with her:
1> Lease space in Westdale Mall for the next 4-5 years. By the end of the lease, whatever is going to happen with the residential and commercial landscape Downtown and near the river should be settled. Then and only then should the County consider acquiring land in the Downtown area. If the County acquires land before that period of time, we may take land off the market that could be utilized for better purposes by a tax paying entity.
2> Follow the example set by the Federal government’s use of Shepherd Mall (I wrongly told her Penn Square Mall) in Oklahoma City after the Federal Courthouse bombing. After the new Courthouse was built, most of the Feds moved out of the Mall, but the Mall survived because it had been revitalized by the Feds moving into it and paying rent for a period of time.
3> If you want to test out the co-location concept with the City and/or Cedar Rapids Schools, why not try it in Westdale before you think about constructing a building? What if you build a big building and find out the County, City, and/or Schools cannot get along? And while putting everybody in the same building does make it easier for the citizens to access services, e.g., county assessor and city assessor, the real savings to the taxpayer will only be realized if the various bodies come to an agreement to consolidate the overhead functions of government, e.g., IT, human resources, finance, budget, accounts payable, payroll, facilities, and other functions. Four Oaks of Iowa has already proven that one administrative group can fulfill the overhead functions for multiple organizations with separate missions. The difference is: one CEO is in charge of the overhead functions. Are the electeds / administrators in the City, County, and School willing to give up control for the common good? The recent frustration over the joint communications fiber network going back into service was not a good sign of teamwork.
These are the ideas I did not share with Supervisor Langston:
4> Relocate other administrative and services offices to the Mall. Prior to the flood, we had 13 major buildings for 800+ employees scattered around Cedar Rapids. Why not consolidate as many offices as possible into Westdale Mall, e.g., Public Health and Fillmore? And bring DHS over from the Iowa Building since we’re paying the rent for them to be in that space.
5> Sell the Witwer Building. The Downtown District wants more downtown housing and at least one downtown business has expressed interest in buying it.
6> Sell the Administrative Office Building. It’s time has come and gone and the last thing we should do is put the County Recorder and her priceless books back into a space that has been flooded three times in her memory. Penford has almost encircled the building, which unfortunately means they can probably name their own price if they want it. Who else would want the building except for a supplier/vendor of Penford’s?
I agree with Supervisor Langston on government ownership of the Mall, but we should look at the numbers before making a decision. To my knowledge, no one has looked at the numbers. And if they have, they have not discussed them in public.
As for plowing big parking lots and fixing roof leaks, see above comment regarding 13 buildings. And guess what, those 13 buildings all have parking lots and sidewalks which must be plowed by contractors/employees in the winter. And in the summer, the HVAC units must be maintained. The Witwer Building alone has a dozen HVAC units on the roof.
I agree that the County has no obligation to rescue the Mall. I don’t call paying market rate rent a rescue. Our obligation to Westdale Mall should be no greater or lesser than the obligation we have to the flood impacted homes and businesses. The Mall is not asking for a handout. In fact, the Mall gave us a handout by contributing space to the County from June through October 31st.
Obviously, Supervisor Langston feels the County has some obligation to flood impacted residents and businesses because the Board of Supervisors redirected funds from the Witwer Trust Fund to aid in flood relief. In addition, each member of the Board is a member of one of the Rebuild Iowa sub-committees and Supervisor Langston is a newly appointed member of the ERPC (economic recovery committee). Also of note, the County is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and provides financial support to Priority One, the economic development arm of the Chamber. The Board appears to be deeply interested and involved in the economic future of our community. Is Westdale a part of the problem or the solution? A part of the past or a part of the future?
I don’t have all of the answers, but I do have some ideas. And to date, the subject of the County’s long term future versus Westdale’s future has not been discussed in a public Board of Supervisor’s meeting. When I read quotes like the one above, I feel like decisions have already been made outside the public’s view. And that’s not how we’re supposed to be conducting the public’s business. That’s not how I conduct business.
Based upon my conversations with some very well educated voters, I think one of the least understood aspects of voting is the voter’s ability to override a straight party vote. In other words, you can fill in the oval for a straight party vote and still vote for individual candidates not affiliated with your party. To vote for a candidate outside your party, please ensure you mark the oval beside that candidate.
For further details, go to http://www.iowaauditors.org/election_presentations/4-Straight_Party_Voting_FlashPoint/Output/index.htm
For details on other aspects of voting and the upcoming election, go to http://www.iowaauditors.org/election_presentations/index.html
I’m getting lots of questions on voter registration and polling places. Maybe the following sequence of links can provide some help to voters. Let me know what you think.
To confirm you are registered to vote in Iowa and your precinct, go to http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/VoterReg/RegToVote/search.aspx
Then view a sample ballot for your precinct by going to http://www.linncounty.org/content.asp?Page_Id=963&Dept_Id=6
Or visit one of the satellite absentee voting stations listed at http://www.linncounty.org/content.asp?Page_Id=968&Dept_Id=6
