Absentee requests for Cedar Rapids runoff vote surpass previous city election

CEDAR RAPIDS - Early voting numbers for the Dec. 5 runoff election in Cedar Rapids could actually surpass the early voting turnout in this year's city election.

As of Tuesday, Linn County Election Services had received 1,855 of the 2,845 absentee ballots issued for the Dec. 5 runoff election. That makes for a 65.2 percent return rate.

That's about 140 more absentee ballots issued than those requested in the Nov. 7 city election. Of those, 2,546 were ultimately returned, said Rebecca Stonawski, deputy commissioner of elections with the Linn County Auditor's Office.

Stonawski said a runoff vote traditionally sees about half the voter turnout of the previous city election.

'This has been a surprise to us. Our numbers are actually healthier than we anticipated,” Stonawski said.

What's more, about one third of the absentee ballots for the runoff election are from people who didn't vote in the city election, she added.

'One really interesting thing is we've had about 800 people request ballots in this election who did not vote in the previous election. That's just really fascinating to me,” Stonawski said.

In the runoff election, former City Council Mayor Pro Tem Monica Vernon faces attorney Brad Hart for the mayoral seat. For the District 5 seat, Ashley Vanorny is up against incumbent Justin Shields.

While it's difficult to pinpoint exactly why early voting turnout has been unusually strong for the runoff, Linn County Auditor Joel Miller did say one difference is the Auditor's Office sent out a mailer notifying voters of the Dec. 5 vote. A mailer did not go out before the Nov. 7 election.

'I think it made a difference in letting people know there was actually an election that was going to go in December, which is a very odd time to have an election anyway,” Miller said.

Early voting is underway at the Linn County Auditor's Office, in the Jean Oxley Public Service Center, 935 Second St. SW. Cedar Rapids. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Absentee ballots can be mailed or delivered to the office, but must be postmarked on or before Dec. 4.

All Cedar Rapids polling locations will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Dec. 5, Residents vote at their city election poll locations.

In Cedar Rapids, if a candidate fails to garner more than 50 percent of votes in the general election, the top two vote earners face off in a runoff vote.

On Nov. 7, Vernon, 60, was the top vote earner in the race for mayor, which featured eight candidates. She received 30.3 percent of votes, while Hart, 61, was second with 20.3 percent.

In the same election, Vanorny, 32, received more than 43 percent of the vote while Shields, 75, got more than 40 percent.

In other council races that night, three newcomers were elected to the eight-member council - Tyler Olson to fill the at-large seat, Dale Todd in District 3 and Marty Hoeger in District 1.

l Comments: (319) 339-3175; mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com