“We’ve been working hard. You’ve been working hard. All the candidates have been working really hard,” Mike Franken told the people gathered at the Iowa City Masonic Building for the Johnson County Democratic Party’s “Get Out the Vote” event on Friday night. “There’s more to do. But in the end, this is going to be […]
Election Coverage
Where and how to vote early in Polk County
Early voting in the Nov. 8 general election commenced on Wednesday, as auditors’ offices were able to mail out absentee ballots requested by voters, and in-person early voting began. The Polk County Auditor’s Election Office (120 2nd Ave, Suite A) is open for in-person voting Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office […]
Early voting begins — what you need and where to go in Johnson and Linn County
Early voting in the Nov. 8 general election began on Wednesday with auditors’ offices mailing out absentee ballots requested by voters and opening their doors for early in-person voting. Early in-person voting will run through Monday, Nov. 7, the day before Election Day, and all absentee ballots must be received in the auditor’s office by […]
New Iowa Poll finds Franken almost tied with Grassley, Reynolds still far ahead of DeJear
Over the weekend, the Des Moines Register published the results of a new Iowa Poll on the two big races in the Nov. 8 general election. The reported results show the Republican incumbents still lead their Democratic challengers, but in the case Iowa’s longest-serving senator, that lead continues to get smaller. Mike Franken is now […]
Iowa Republican leaders line up behind Trump after FBI raid: ‘We’ve got a right 2b skeptical’
Iowa’s leading Republicans once again followed Donald Trump’s lead and used social media on Tuesday to suggest corruption led to FBI agents executing a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property on Monday. Not corruption on Trump’s part, of course. Iowa GOP leaders have consistently ignored or avoided acting on evidence of Trump’s corruption, whether personal, […]
Former Rep. Jim Leach breaks with the Republican Party, endorses Bohannan for House and Franken for Senate
Jim Leach, who represented Johnson County and much of southeastern Iowa in Congress for 30 years as a Republican, changed his party registration to Democrat ahead of the June 7 primary, the Quad City Times reported on Wednesday. “Today, the Republican Party that I spent so many years with has really let the country down,” […]
‘We can do better, because we’ve done better’: Deidre DeJear on Iowa’s future, LGBTQ rights, abortion access and legalizing cannabis
“I just want to get back to basics,” Deidre DeJear told the people gathered on the fifth floor patio of the Chauncey on Thursday evening, in response to a question about what her first three priorities would be if elected governor. The Democratic nominee named funding public education, guaranteeing the right to choose an abortion […]
Gov. Kim Reynolds announces plans to severely restrict abortion in Iowa
Four days after the U.S. Supreme Court discarded half a century of established legal precedent to end constitutional protection for the right to an abortion, Gov. Kim Reynolds announced she’s taking action to almost completely ban abortion in Iowa. “The Supreme Court’s historic decision reaffirms that states have the right to protect the innocent and […]
‘Let go, let God’: Sen. Grassley gets evasive about Jan. 6 during radio interview
“I better not say I’m ready to answer your questions, because I don’t know what you’re going to ask,” Sen. Chuck Grassley said at the beginning of his telephone interview with Dr. Bob Leonard on KNIA/KRLS, the local news radio station for Knoxville, Pella and Indianola. It seemed like a good-natured joke when Grassley said […]
‘Cresting at the right time’: Franken wins, Reynolds forsakes fellow Republicans, and other takeaways from the primary election
Retired Adm. Mike Franken easily defeated Abby Finkenauer to win the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate in what was the highest profile contested race in the nation on Tuesday. Franken won 55.2 percent of the vote and carried 76 of Iowa’s 99 counties, including Johnson and Linn, according to the unofficial totals published by the […]
Where you need to go and what ID you need to show to vote in Tuesday’s primary
Polls open for primary voters at 7 a.m. on Tuesday. Anyone planning to vote later in the day needs to be aware that voting ends at 8 p.m., not 9 p.m. as had been traditional for decades in Iowa. The earlier poll closing time was one of several new restrictions on voting Gov. Kim Reynolds […]
Polk County Auditor’s Office and three public libraries will be open for early voting on Saturday
The Polk County Auditor’s Office (120 2nd Ave, Suite A) will be open for early voting in the June 7 primary election on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m There will also be three satellite voting locations on Saturday. All three will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. • Altoona Public Library […]

