SIOUX CITY, Iowa (Iowa Media Wire) — Election Day isn’t until next Tuesday, but ballots are already stacking up thanks to absentee and early voting. After ballot box fires in Oregon and Washington state, added attention is being given to those drive-up ballot drop boxes.
In Woodbury County, auditor Pat Gill told Iowa Media Wire 9 that more than 15,000 absentee ballots have come in so far. It’s expected that around 20,000 absentee ballots will be delivered before the polls close on election night. Gill says that in the last three general elections, around 45,000 people cast votes in the county.
When it comes to the absentee ballots, the number is about 20,000 to 22,000, with many being dropped off at the county’s drop box outside the courthouse. Auditor Gill says ballots are collected from the drop box several times a day and added that he is confident the votes are protected.
“In Iowa, the only place that you can have a drop box is on the courthouse grounds, and the one that we have is right in the courthouse footprint,” Gill said. “So it’s pretty secure, like I said, 24-hour surveillance and that’s from both directions. It comes from the courthouse, and city hall actually has one back there too.”
People can vote in person at the Long Lines Family Rec Center or at the county courthouse every day from now until Nov. 4 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.