County auditors say they had to turn down hundreds of voters who requested absentee ballots under a new deadline. (Photo illustration by Iowa Capital Dispatch)
More than 675,000 absentee ballots were received by Iowa officials as of Election Day morning, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.
A total of 675,464 ballots were returned by Tuesday morning, although 692,366 ballots were issued. That means there are still 16,902 absentee ballots that were distributed to voters and have yet to be received by local county auditors.
Iowans who have requested and received an absentee ballot but not yet turned it in still have time. Voters can return their completed absentee ballot to their local county auditor’s office Tuesday, with a deadline for the office to receive it by 8 p.m., the time polls close, to be counted.
Voters who requested, but have not returned, absentee ballots can also still vote in-person at their precinct polling location on Election Day. These voters can surrender their absentee ballot at the voting location to cast a regular ballot. If a person is not able to provide their absentee ballot, they can still cast a provisional ballot at the polling site.
The early and absentee voting rate in the 2024 election is much higher by this point than it was in the 2022 midterm elections, when 368,071 ballots had been received by the Nov. 8 election day. However, the rate is still below the 2020 election when 996,970 were turned in by Election Day.
While absentee voter turnout was higher in the previous presidential election, there were other factors contributing to the higher rate — namely the COVID-19 pandemic and Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate’s move to directly send out absentee ballot request forms. In the 2016 election, 653,438 absentee ballots were received by Election Day.
In three of Iowa’s four congressional districts, more Democrats have returned their absentee ballots than Republican voters. In the hotly contested 1st Congressional District, where U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks faces Democrat Christina Bohannan, 79,187 absentee ballots have been returned by registered Democrats while 68,059 have been returned by Republicans. Another 45,539 voters who are not registered with a party have turned in their absentee ballots in the district.
The 3rd Congressional District saw 65,639 Democrats, 58,570 Republicans, and 32,684 no-party voters, return their ballots by Tuesday morning. U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn and Democrat Lanon Baccam are locked in a tight race for the congressional seat, according to election forecasters.
Democrats also pulled ahead by a much smaller margin in the 2nd Congressional District where U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson faces Democrat Sarah Corkery, with 62,447 ballots returned by registered GOP voters, 66,429 by Democrats and 38,991 by no-party voters.
The one congressional district where more Republicans than Democrats have returned their absentee ballot is Iowa’s 4th Congressional District. The longtime conservative stronghold in the state is currently represented by U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra who faces a rematch against Democrat Ryan Melton. In that district, absentee ballots from 78,027 Republican voters have been received, while registered Democrats in the district have turned in 44,768 ballots. No-party voters have returned 30,903 ballots.