CEDAR FALLS – Jill Higgins, the chairperson for Black Hawk County elections, is in her second year of working for the county elections team and she was a bit nervous on Tuesday.
“This is my first presidential election as chairperson, so it’s a bit nerve wracking,” she said.
As Higgins and her team prepared for University of Northern Iowa students to vote in the Commons on campus, an unlikely roadblock arose. “I don’t know if you had heard, but we already had an issue. This morning, we were in the ballroom, and the ceiling fell. So then we moved everything, but nobody was hurt or anything, it was before the polls opened.”
Higgins said most of the students in Precinct 1, Ward 1 were registering and voting for the first time and there was a steady stream of voters at the polling place. “Massive influx since, pretty much since we opened, I would say from 7:30 onward, it’s been awesome, and most of them have been new voters,” she said.
“Would I do it again? I would, I would, the more I do it, I know the more comfortable I’ll feel,” she said. “Yeah, it’s an anxious time, right? But it’s fun, and it’s exciting to see all these students here, and, you know, giving some high fives and students are really excited, and that’s what’s great.