Culver votes early; Branstad waits for Election Day

Gov. Chet Culver knows he's already got a vote in the bank.

Culver, a first-term Democrat who is locked in a tough re-election battle with former four-term Republican Gov. Terry Branstad, used the early-voting option to cast his 2010 general election ballot on Friday at the Polk County auditor's office.

“It's a winning ballot,” Culver said. He later told reporters, “that's one down, about 550,000 to go.”

Culver cast his ballot a month ahead of the Nov. 2 Election Day to highlight early-voting options that Democrats hope will give them an edge over Republicans.

“It felt great. I'm very excited about coming down the home stretch here,” he said. “We've got about four weeks to go. I just want to urge Iowans to make sure they vote, and early voting in Iowa is a great option. So I'm hoping we'll get more people out before Nov. 2. I'm just working as hard as I possibly can to earn the vote. We've gotten the job done; we've governed effectively during very difficult times.”

Iowa Secretary of State Michael Mauro issued revised numbers for absentee ballots that were requested and received at 99 county auditors' offices after the first week of early voting. As of Friday, 116,630 Iowans had requested absentee ballots and 26,831 had been received by county election officials.

The totals showed 70,992 ballot requests by Democrats, 24,736 by Republicans and 20,830 by Iowans with no party affiliation, according to Mauro's office. Ballots received stood at Democrats, 15,556, Republicans 7,636, and no-party voters 3,608.

Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald said his office experienced a surge of voter interest over the past week and he expected that to grow even more when satellite voting sites open next week. He said he expected the ballots would meet and likely exceed the 30,500 early votes received in November 2006.

Branstad spokesman Tim Albrecht said the Boone Republican who previously served as Iowa governor from 1983 to 1999 would cast his ballot on Election Day. Branstad made an appearance at the Ames Chamber of Commerce Friday and he and Culver were slated to participate in the University of Iowa Homecoming parade in Iowa City later in the day.