By Molly Hunter
Preliminary numbers indicate early voting is down in Iowa in the 2016 presidential election.
Of the 92,138 voters registered in Johnson County as of Nov. 6, 32.98 percent had voted by 7:16 p.m. Tuesday. Numbers released by the Johnson County Auditor’s Office at 10 p.m. made final turnout projections based on Nov. 6 voter registration, estimating 83.71 percent turnout, a slight increase over 2012.
The first absentee ballots for Johnson County residents were mailed during the last week of September. In-person early voting began at the Johnson County Auditor’s Office at 7:45 a.m. on Sept. 29 and ended 5:30 p.m. on Monday.
The portion of registered voters casting absentee ballots — which include those of in-person early voters and those who vote early by mail — fell in Johnson County this year. Early votes made up 48.31 percent of those cast in the 2012 election in Johnson County. According to early voting results released at 9 p.m. Tuesday, that portion shrank to 44.98 percent this year.
Absentee statistics reported by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office showed the number of early voters around the entire state have declined from 689,661 on Election Day in 2012 to 646,569 on Tuesday morning.
Kevin Hall, the communications director for the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, said, “Early voting was a little down from previous years, but we received reporting that voting on Election Day was larger than what a lot of county auditors were expecting.”
Iowa City Precinct 6 election official Sharon Hintze was positive about voter turnout on Tuesday afternoon.
“This is my first general election in this precinct,” she said. “The previous one I worked down at the university library, so that was constant. This has been very busy. I think we’re having a good turnout.”
This year’s early voting statistics reflect past trends. Democrats made up the largest political party bloc of early voters in Iowa this year, with 265,435 votes, followed by Republicans with 223,623 votes. By comparison, Democrats contributed 287,935 early votes in 2012, while Republicans lagged behind at 219,576 early votes.
Hall said early voting numbers don’t represent the final tally.
All election results are considered “unofficial” until after the Johnson County Board of Supervisors conducts its canvass on Nov. 15.
“There has to be an official canvass,” Hall said. “Nothing will be certified tonight.”
Unaffiliated voters cast 155,113 early ballots, according to Tuesday’s count. This number is down from 181,260 in 2012. Meanwhile, third-party voters, or those registered as Libertarians or Greens, for instance, accounted for 2,298 of Iowa’s absentee ballots. This number represents a significant increase compared with the last presidential election, which saw early votes by 890 third-party voters.
Reporting done by The Daily Iowan suggests trustworthiness was a deciding factor for those who cast votes for third party candidates.
Hintze said that despite the contentiousness of this election, she has seen no difference in the atmosphere at polling places.
“I was a little concerned about that, [but] I think it’s been fine,” she said. “I have no idea who’s voting what way.”