Polls open at 7 a.m. on Tuesday for the special election to fill the vacant seat on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors and remain open until 9 p.m. Voters will need to go to their assigned polling place to cast their ballot, and for some people that will be a different location than the one where they voted in the November general election.
According to the Johnson County Auditor’s Office, there will be 17 combined precincts for the special election.
• Big Grove, Cedar, and Solon will vote at Solon City Hall. This is the regular polling place for the city of Solon. Big Grove usually votes at the Solon Library and Cedar normally votes at the Fire Station.
• Coralville 1 and 4 will both vote at the regular polling place for Coralville 1, the Coralville Public Library. Coralville 4 usually votes at City Hall.
• Iowa City 19 and 20 will both vote at the precinct 20 site, the Senior Center. Precinct 19 usually votes at the Iowa City Rec Center.
Five of these combinations involve places where two precincts already vote at the same location (there will be one set of poll workers instead of two):
• Iowa City 5 and 11 at the UI Main Library
• Iowa City 6 and 16 at the Mercer Park Aquatic Center
• North Liberty 1 and 5 at the North Liberty Community Center
• Graham and Newport at Celebration Farm
• City of Hills and Liberty-Pleasant Valley at the Hills Community Center
The auditor’s office has an online look-up tool to help people find the proper precinct, but anyone unsure where to go, or who has other questions about the election, should call the auditor’s office, 319-356-6004.
This is the last election before the voter-ID law passed by the Iowa legislature in 2017 takes full effect. As long as you’re already a registered voter, you don’t won’t need any form of ID to vote in this election, because you still have the option of signing an oath attesting to your identity instead of producing ID. That option ends on Jan. 1, 2019.
You don’t need to already be registered to vote in this election. Any adult citizen who goes to the precinct that corresponds to their home address, and hasn’t been stripped of their right to vote by a felony conviction or a judge’s order, can register and immediately vote.
To register on Election Day, you’ll need a valid Iowa driver’s license or one of the following forms of identification:
• Iowa non-driver ID card
• Out-of-state driver’s license or non-driver ID card
• U.S. passport
• U.S. military ID
• ID card issued by employer
• Student ID issued by Iowa high school or college
• Tribal ID
If your photo ID doesn’t have your current address, you’ll need to bring one of the following proofs of residence:
• Residential lease
• Utility bill (including a cell phone bill)
• Bank statement
• Paycheck
• Government check or other government document
Even if you don’t have an acceptable photo ID or proof of residence, you may still register to vote, provided a friend who is already registered to vote is willing to vouch for you. The ID-deficient person and the registered voter will both have to sign oaths, attesting to the identity and home address of the ID-deficient person.
If you’ve moved since the last time you’ve voted and you haven’t yet updated your voter registration with your new address, you can do that at your new polling place on Election Day. To update the address, you’ll need one of the photo IDs listed above. It’s OK if the ID has your old address, although if you’ve moved into a new voting precinct, you’ll also need one of the proofs of residence listed above.
Each precinct should have two officials — a Democrat and a Republican — designated to assist voters with special needs. If a voter prefers to have someone other than the designated officials assist, that person will have to sign an Affidavit of Voter Requesting Assistance, according to the Iowa Secretary of State.
Curbside voting is also available for those unable to easily exit their vehicles. Once alerted to a voter requesting the curbside option, the two appointed precinct officials will bring a ballot to the voter.
Anyone with questions about assistance with voting should call the Johnson County Auditor’s Office.
This article was just the kick in the pants I needed to go vote today instead of watching it go by.