Absentee voting starts in Iowa

MASON CITY — Today is the first day Iowa voters can cast an absentee ballot in person at a county auditor’s office, and today is also the first day that county auditors are able to mail out absentee ballots that have been requested for the November general election.

Cerro Gordo County Auditor Adam Wedmore says voters were able to start requesting ballots be mailed to them back in late August, but today is the first day his office can drop those ballots in the mail.  “A voter must request an absentee ballot for each election, and then when those requests are in, we can then mail those ballots out. The first day that we can start mailing those ballots out is Wednesday, October 16th, which means the voters should get them a couple of days later than that.”

Wedmore reminds voters to get those absentee ballots back into his office on or before Election Day. “The deadline for absentee ballots to be eligible for counting has to be in our office no later than the time the polls close, which is 8:00 PM on election night. If it comes in at 8:01 or the Saturday following, the ballot will not be counted. So that ballots have to get in here by the time the polls close.”

Absentee ballot request forms can also be requested by heading to the Cerro Gordo County Auditor’s website.