Early, absentee voting levels down from 2012

With less than two weeks left before the Nov. 8 election, absentee-ballot requests and early voting numbers in Linn and Johnson counties so far are sitting lower than this time last presidential election.

Linn County documents show that about 20,900 ballots had been received by the end of the day Thursday, or more than 6,500 less than this time in 2012.

Absentee requests also have been down, with about 33,000 requests this year compared to more than 38,000 this time four years ago.

Tim Box, Linn County deputy commissioner of elections, said the election started slow, with only about 10,300 absentee ballots issued, compared to 17,000 in 2012.

'The daily activity is pretty much mirroring 2012,” Box said. 'We had just such a slow start and we're not catching up. We're not quite making up that ground.”

Meanwhile, Johnson County has seen close to 29,000 absentee ballots. That falls between the 26,000 ballots in 2008 and about 33,500 in 2012.

Both counties still have several early voting opportunities before the election.

In Linn County:

' The Auditor's Office, 935 Second St. SW, will be open Oct. 29 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

' Satellite voting stations will be open on Saturday, Oct. 29, and Nov. 5 at three Hv-Vee locations - 3235 Oakland Rd NE, 20 Wilson Ave. SW and 5050 Edgewood Rd. NE - from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Johnson County will provide satellite voting:

' Auditor's Office, 913 Dubuque St. - Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Nov. 6 from noon to 5 p.m.

' North Liberty Community Library, 520 W Cherry St. - Oct. 29 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

' Lucky's Market, 1668 Sycamore St., Iowa City - Oct. 30 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

' Boyd Law Building, 130 Byington Rd., Iowa City - Nov. 1 from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.

' Coralville Public Library, 1401 Fifth St. - Nov 4 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Nov. 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Also, satellite voting stations will be open at the Iowa City Public Library, 123 S. Linn St.:

' Oct. 29 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

' Oct. 30 from noon to 5 p.m.

' Oct. 31 - Nov. 4 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

' Nov. 5 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.