Early local-option tax votes more than double 2009's

Early voter interest in the local-option sales tax referendum is running more than twice that of the last such vote.

Through Tuesday, more than 2,500 votes had been cast at early-voting satellite polls and through absentee ballots, according to Abigail Rambo, Linn County's  elections coordinator.

The elections office had received 948 of the 1,393 absentee ballots requested by voters, who have until Monday afternoon to mail them or  8 p.m. Tuesday to deliver them to them to the auditor's office.

Another 1,601 early votes have been cast at the auditor's office or at satellite locations. Satellite voting closed last week, but early votes may still be cast at the auditor's office at Westdale Mall. Ballots may be cast at the auditor's office during regular hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., through Monday.

Just under 700 votes had been cast two weeks before the March 2009 LOST vote.

"We've been doing early voter drives, things like that," said Tim Pugh, chairman of the We Can Do Better CR committee that opposes the proposal to extend the one-percent sales tax by 20 years.

Pugh said that effort has been mostly through "personal contact."

"It's kind of early to say, but it does seem we've got a lot of early momentum," said Pugh. "It seems to be running its own course."

Callers for the Protect Cedar Rapids Committee's phone bank send stamped request forms to voters who ask, said Pat Baird, chairman of the committee that favors the tax extension.

"We have tried to make it easy for everyone who's interested in voting early," said Baird.  "Our strategy has been all along to get as many people as possible interested in this. We think if we can get people interested inn this it will go in our favor."

With days to go, "we're going to be hitting the ground hard and doing everything we can to get out the vote," Pugh said.

Absentees were 2.7 percent of the 34,312 ballots cast in the March 2009 vote.

LOST Early Votes