The 29-day “early voting” period in Iowa starts today.
For Iowans planning to mail their absentee ballot, election officials caution against procrastinating and getting it mailed by October 26 — a week before Election Day. Iowans also may go into their county auditor’s office and cast an absentee ballot there. County auditors have drop boxes for ballots, too, but new policy from the secretary of state moved all drop boxes onto county property, near auditors’ offices.
More than 600,000 Iowans have asked auditors to mail them a ballot and those ballots will be mailed out today. On Friday, the state’s Voter Registration Commission approved new voter registration forms that make clear thousands of Iowans with past felony convictions are now eligible to vote. The governor’s executive order on felon voting rights was issued in August.