Voters in one Iowa county of 9,000 cast their ballots the same way people purchase a Big Mac: in the drivethrough.
The Bloomfield Fire Department, the usual polling location for Bloomfield, served all of Davis County’s eight sites this year. Cars could pull into the emptied equipment bays — where the firetrucks normally sit — and drivers could vote behind the wheel and then pull forward to exit.
All across Iowa, COVID-19 precautions changed the 2020 primary with a huge vote-by-mail push and other steps like curbside or drive-through options happening Tuesday. Rural counties, with fewer options for buildings, got creative.
“It’s not a regular primary and things were changing all the time,” said Adams County Elections Clerk Nancy Turner. “It was kind of a moving landscape.”
One of the biggest changes for the June 2 primary was in the number of polling sites. Most counties chose to decrease the number, a few opted to stay with their usual plan but with measures to limit spread of the coronavirus, an IowaWatch and Iowa Freedom of Information Council report found.
For instance, 24 rural counties had a single polling site. Adams County is among them, going from five sites in the June 2018 primary to a single spot, said Turner. Thirteen counties had two sites; 18 more offered 3. Five went with four locations. Eleven counties kept the number at 5.
The reduction caused some headaches, the IowaWatch-FOI review of all 99 counties found. Among the most common cited issues: finding poll willing workers, as many fall into age groups more susceptible to coronavirus, training new poll workers, finding large enough buildings to allow social distancing, dealing with the huge absentee voter turnout or procuring enough personal protective equipment.
Many auditors reported support from Secretary of State Paul Pate’s office helped with getting needed PPE or other supplies.
Hardin County Auditor Jessica Lara said it was a struggle to find and train new workers. “We conducted our training via Zoom as well, which made it difficult to do anything hands-on,” Lara said.
In Bloomfield, the voting committee took many precautions. The southeastern Iowa county bordering Missouri had 13 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Tuesday.
Volunteers, trained in COVID-19 safety measures, offered hand sanitizer and masks to each voter, disinfected a board voters wrote on and let residents go home with the pens they used. Longtime election volunteer Nancy Plowman said she did not hear negative comments.
“We don’t want to pressure them into wearing a mask if they don’t want to wear a mask. They’re going to be in their own car and everything,” Davis County Auditor Linda Humphrey said. “Either way, we just want people to feel safe and comfortable.”
The county saw 1,086 absentee votes, which was close to the usual amount of voters during a primary, Plowman said. A hundred more voters used the drive-in option by 3 p.m. Tuesday and 32 chose to walk in. The polling location opened at 7 a.m. and polls closed at 9 p.m.
Davis County election administrator Debbie Jarr said she believed Davis County was the first to ask the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office if people could legally vote in their cars. The counties with drive-through absentee voting sparked the idea, Jarr said, solving the state requirement to include curbside voting.
It took searching for the single spot. The first choice was the local hospital that offered a long-unused ambulance bay. In the case of a coronavirus outbreak before June 2, the hospital could not guarantee a room for the volunteers, so the election commission returned to the usual polling location, the fire station. However, the garage area is not usually used for voting.
“It doesn’t make any difference to me either way. As long as my vote counts, I don’t care,” Bloomfield resident Terri Rendon said. “I liked this better.”
The new mode of voting benefitted voters with disabilities. Brooks Schooley, who normally would need help from her son to walk into the polling location, was able to drive through and vote while he was at baseball practice.
“This way I could do it myself,” Schooley said.
Auditors across Iowa used multiple ways to alert voters to changes. Davis County, for instance, sent news releases to news organizations and shared voting information on their website. Disseminating the new voting information in the mostly rural county with one newspaper, the Bloomfield Democrat, meant some voters were surprised to find drive-through voting or drove to their usual polling location.
Jim Bailey, who said he does not follow local news, drove to his normal polling location in Troy before being redirected to Bloomfield.
“I don’t think they really let everybody know,” Bailey said.
The Secretary of State’s Office provided masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, social distancing markers and other materials to protect voters and poll workers. The office also counties offered $500,000 in grant funds for additional items. Secretary Paul Pate’s office said it had 1,000 volunteers offer to work the polls.
Voters were mixed on whether eight precincts could function under one roof during the presidential election.
The county has 1,551 registered Republicans, 1,924 Democrats and 1,318 no-party voters.
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Hope Hewitt, who said the pandemic is overblown, said there is a possibility pandemic fear could keep voters home for future elections. Nancy Clancy, on the other hand, said concerns of the virus are not widespread in Davis County.
“I don’t think people are so worried about the pandemic (here),” Clancy said. “We don’t have a huge quantity of cases.”
In more densely populated counties, election officials reduced polling sites as well. For instance, Polk County went from 135 to 28 sites. Linn County went from 78 to 19 this year. Woodbury County initially planned for two sites, down from 42 in June 2018. A judge settled a dispute there and the number was set at five.
The voter turnout for June primary elections is typically low — with 288,749 voters showing up in 2018, 206,739 in 2016 and 233,090 in 2014. Pate’s office said the largest primary turnout on record was in 1994, when 487,037 people cast ballots.
Some counties chose to stay with their usual number of voting sites on June 2. Adair County had five sites Tuesday and in June 2018.
Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz is already looking to November. The county opened 23 sites Tuesday after having 63 in June 2018.
“We need guidance from the Secretary of State and the legislators so that we will have time to prepare and educate the public about any major changes, such as polling location changes, that might occur,” Moritz said. “We have been able to get what we need for this election, but I certainly have concerns moving forward, because we really don’t know what to expect in November.“
Voters were mixed on whether eight precincts could function under one roof during the presidential election.
The county has 1,551 registered Republicans, 1,924 Democrats and 1,318 no-party voters.
Hope Hewitt, who said the pandemic is overblown, said there is a possibility pandemic fear could keep voters home for future elections. Nancy Clancy on the other hand said concerns of the virus aren’t widespread in Davis County.
“I don’t think people are so worried about the pandemic (here),” Clancy said. “We don’t have a huge quantity of cases.”
In more densely populated counties, election officials reduced polling sites as well. For instance, Polk County went from 135 to 28 sites. Linn County went from 78 to 19 this year. Woodbury County initially planned for two sites, down from 42 in June 2018. A judge settled a dispute there and the number was set at five.
June primary turnout is typically low 288,749 voters showing up in 2018, 206,739 in 2016 and 233,090 in 2014. Pate’s office said 1994 was the year of the all-time high: 487,037.
Some counties chose to stay with their usual number of sites. Adair County had five sites Tuesday and in June 2018. Others include: Cedar, 12; Delaware, 12; Henry, nine; Jackson, 16; Lucas, seven; Shelby, five; Van Buren, eight; and Wayne, 4.
Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz is already looking to November. The county opened 23 sites Tuesday after having 63 in June 2018.
“We need guidance from the Secretary of State and the legislators so that we will have time to prepare and educate the public about any major changes such as polling location changes that might occur,” Moritz said. “We have been able to get what we need for this election but I certainly have concerns moving forward, because we really don’t know what to expect in November.
IowaWatch partnered on this story with the Iowa Freedom of Information Council. Go here to learn more.
