AUDUBON – The Audubon Community School District will hold a special election on September 14 to fill the school board seat from Anne Miller, who was appointed in July after Joni Madsen stepped down to take an apprenticeship in the district. Other district residents who want to toss their hats in the ring and run for the board seat can submit papers to appear on the ballot.
If you want to take part in the election, you have to get the paperwork rolling. According to Audubon County’s assistant auditor and polling officer Diana Munch, the deadline for submitting this is August 19 at 5:00 p.m. at the school.
Each candidate must submit an affidavit of candidacy and nomination applications to the school
Secretary on time.
Munch noted that there were some changes to postal voting starting this year.
Changes to electoral law in 2021 for Iowa voters
• Voters must register 15 days or more before the election in order to appear in the electoral roll on election day (previously 11 days and 10 days for general elections). must have proof of identity and residence.
• Voters who have moved and who have been mailed by the district auditor asking for their correct address – and who did not vote in the last general election (previously the last two general elections) will be marked as active (unless they weren’t 18 at the time of the last general election). Registrations of inactive voters will not be canceled until two further elections have passed without voter activity.
• The first day to submit a postal vote request form to your auditor is 70 days prior to an election (previously 120 days).
• The first day on which the district auditors can send ballots to the voters is 20 days before an election, previously 29 days.
• The first day for personal postal voting at a satellite location is 20 days before the election, earlier 29 days, and satellite voting locations can only be set up by public petition with at least 100 signatures on their own movement.
• Requests for voting by post for voting by post must be received no later than 15 days before the election (previously 11 days and, in the case of general elections, 10 days). Exception, if a voter is admitted to a health facility, dementia-specific assisted living or a hospital 14 or less days before the election, the voter can request a postal vote by telephone no later than 4:00 p.m. on election day.
• Postal ballot papers must be received by the auditor by 8:00 pm on the day of the election. Up until now, ballot papers were valid if they were stamped before election day and received by the Monday after the election. Postmarks or barcodes printed on a ballot envelope may no longer be valid on a ballot received after election day, except in the following cases: The ballot came from a participant in the Safe At Home program and was timely received by the Foreign Minister for submission to the District received auditors on the Monday after the election at noon, or it was a ballot from uniformed and foreign nationals that was received on the Monday after the election at noon.
• If an envelope containing the ballot paper is not signed by the voter, the district auditor will contact the voter, who can then request a replacement ballot paper and return it by 8:00 p.m. on election day (changed from postmarked the day before the election or earlier); Voting at the polls on election day; or sign the affidavit in person in the auditor’s office by 8:00 p.m. on the day of the election (changed from 5:00 p.m. on the day before the election).
Application forms for postal voting
• Postal voting requests must be received by the auditor 15 days before the election.
• Must include the date the application was signed.
• May not be sent to voters by counter inspectors unless requested by a voter.
• Shall not be broadcast to voters by the Secretary of State unless directed to do so by the state legislature in the event of a public health disaster declared by the governor.
• Can be sent to the voters of candidates, political groups and other private organizations, but no fields on the application form may be pre-filled, except for the type and date of the election.
