Vote: Runoff elections for mayor and council seat to be settled today in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - Today is Election Day for two Cedar Rapids runoff contests. When voting concludes city residents should know their next mayor and District 5 representative.

Monica Vernon and Brad Hart vie for Cedar Rapids mayor, while incumbent Justin Shields faces challenger Ashley Vanorny for the District 5 City Council seat.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday at city election polling locations, which can be found online at linncountyelections.org/lookup.

All residents in Cedar Rapids can vote in the mayoral race, while only residents who live in District 5, which primarily is the southwest quadrant, can participate in the District 5 vote.

According to the Linn County Auditor's Office website, new voters or people who have moved should bring physical proof of identification and physical proof of residency to their polling location to vote. Registered voters will not need ID until 2018.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors will canvass final results at 9 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 12.

Monday featured a steady stream of early voters at the Linn County Auditor's Office, said Becky Stonawski, deputy auditor for elections.

Auditor's office data showed 3,317 absentee ballots have been returned, out of 3,584 requested. That's nearly 30 percent more than the 2,566 early votes during the regular election, and 879 of the runoff votes are from people who didn't vote on Nov. 7, Stonawski said.

'My best guess in talking to people is there were too many options,” Stonawski said. 'They said they were going to wait for the runoff.”

Eight people were on the ballot for mayor during the regular election. The auditor's office sent a mailer to all households in Cedar Rapids for the runoff but not for the regular election, which could have also boosted voting, she said.

While runoff turnout typically pales in comparison to a regular election, Stonawski said she would not be surprised if runoff turnout matches or tops the 17,661 votes, or 20.3 percent participation rate, in November.

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, a businesswoman and former City Council member, was the top vote earner in the race for mayor. She received 30.3 percent of votes, while Hart, 61, a lawyer at Bradley and Riley, was second with 20.3 percent.

Vanorny, 32, an information technology professional, received more than 43 percent of the vote while Shields, 75, a former union leader and retired Quaker Oats worker, got more than 40 percent.

The new mayor will lead a major turnover in the nine-member council, which will see at least four new faces on Jan. 2 when new four-year terms begin. The part-time mayor position paid $35,378.46 this year and the part-time city council positions paid $17,693.

Other winners elected on Nov. 7 include Tyler Olson to fill the at-large seat, Dale Todd in District 3 and Marty Hoeger in District 1.

l Comments: (319) 339-3177; brian.morelli@thegazette.com