Data: Democrats, older Iowans use absentee ballots most

IOWA CITY - Democrats and older Iowans would have to adjust their early voting habits the most if a bill that cleared the Iowa House requires absentee ballots to be in county auditors' hands by the time polls close on Election Day.

Republicans would see an effect, too, legislators said. But they vote in person on Election Day with more frequency than Democrats or those registered for no party as well as Iowans aged 65 and older, according to an IowaWatch analysis of voting data in general elections over the past 20 years.

Regardless of who feels the impact, Republican and Democratic state legislators trying to amend Iowa's absentee voter registration law agree that changes are critical because ballots are not being counted when they probably should be.

The reason is U.S. post offices are not putting time-stamped postmarks on many of the absentee ballots.

'So we are throwing ballots out, and we don't want to do that,” state Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, said.

Iowa law says absentee ballots may arrive after an election day if they bear a postmark of up to the day before the scheduled vote.

But a bill that passed the Iowa House 56-41 on March 11 would require that absentee ballots arrive at county auditors' offices by the time polls close on the election day to be counted. An exception would be given to military personnel and their families and others working outside the country who apply for ballots and return them by mail in time to be counted.

A Senate bill says ballots clearly postmarked by the day before an election and received by the elections office by noon the following Monday should be counted, as well as any ballot received by 5 p.m. the day after the election.

A decision on whether to vote on the Senate bill or to take up the House bill was pending.

Danielson, chairman of the State Government Committee - where the matter now rests - said differences in what the House and Senate propose are not deal breakers. State Rep. Quentin Stanerson, R-Center Point, and floor manager of the bill passing the House, was equally optimistic.

'The language of their bill and our bill is similar,” Stanerson said.

Tossing ballots

Voting data compiled by the Iowa Secretary of State's Office show how overwhelmingly Democrats like to vote early. One-half of Democrats voting in the 2014 and 2012 general elections did so with absentee ballots, compared to two of every five Republicans and two of every six Iowa voters declaring no political party preference.

That voting includes going to satellite stations before the election day and handing in ballots to election officials then, so that those ballots arrive on time.

Numbers are slightly higher when party affiliation is not considered and the focus is on age - 54.5 percent of Iowans age 65 or older who voted in the 2014 general election used absentee ballots. Some 58 percent did so in 2012.

But many county auditors, who serve as their county's elections commissioners, say they've had to toss out absentee ballots because the envelopes have not been postmarked.

The Iowa State Association of County Auditors - which asked for legislation ensuring that ballots arrive by the election day - has complained that the U.S. Postal Service has not put postmarks with dates on ballots, as required by Iowa law for the ballots to be counted.

'The lack of a ‘clear postmark' on return absentee ballots is a concern due to inconsistent postmarking practices throughout the state,” Clinton County Auditor Erin Van Lancker wrote in a position paper for the county auditor association.

Stanerson said the House bill was a response to the auditors' complaints.

'We ran with what the auditors' language was,” he said. 'There was no political motivation. This was brought to us from auditors across the state.”

Stanerson said the goal is to count absentee votes that otherwise would be disqualified for lack of an adequate, dated postmark.

'In no way was this bill put out there to disenfranchise folks,” he said.

Several Democrats disagreed during floor debate in the House. The Republican-led House voted down a Democratic attempt to allow ballots through an authorized postal service by 5 p.m. the day after an election.

How absentee ballots are accepted has become increasingly important because the use of early or mailed absentee ballots has grown dramatically over the past 20 years. In Iowa's 1996 general election, 18 percent of Democrats, 17 percent of Republicans and 12 percent of those declaring no party used absentee ballots, records show.

A push by county auditors across the state to get more voters to the polls has fueled a lot of the increase in absentee voting but the political parties have promoted the practice as well.

Danielson said he knows the impact of absentee ballots firsthand. He won his 2008 Senate election against Rep. Walt Rogers, R-Cedar Falls, by a 22-vote margin delivered in absentee ballots.

Former Rep. Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Rapids, beat Rep. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids, that same year by 13 votes before Staed won re-election over Schulte in 2012.

More recently, state Rep. Darrel Branhagen, R-Decorah, defeated Democrat Rick Edwards by 27 votes in 2014. And here's a close one: Sen. Mark Chalgren, R-Wapello, beat Democrat Keith Kreiman by only 10 votes in 2010.

This story was produced by Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism-IowaWatch.org, a non-profit, online news website that collaborates with Iowa news organizations to produce explanatory and investigative reporting.