Linn supervisors put hold on billing for election-alert postcards

CEDAR RAPIDS - Linn County Auditor Joel Miller says it remains a priority to inform voters about upcoming special elections in school districts and small towns with revenue issues on the ballot.

However, Miller continuing with his decision in 2014 to send out election-alert postcards to households - and to bill the jurisdiction the cost - has been put on hold by the Linn County Board of Supervisors.

Linda Langston, chairwoman of the board, said the Linn County attorney's Office believes that seeking payment from jurisdictions for the postcards may be inappropriate, and the cost should be borne by the county.

Langston said her inclination is for the county to assume the costs already incurred for Miller's pre-election postcards and then, as recommended by the county's attorney, to seek an opinion from the Iowa Attorney General about billing in the future, she said.

Miller has used the pre-election postcards for seven special elections since April 1, 2014, at a cost of $26,265.

No matter what the Iowa Attorney General says, Langston said the supervisors need to decide if the postcards are worth the cost.

There is no dispute, she said, that voter turnout is generally 'dreadfully low” for school board elections.

'I'm happy to remind people at tax time, when you're yelling to me about taxes, the fact of the matter is that the largest portion of your (property) tax bill goes to the schools,” Langston said. 'So clearly, you want that to be addressed.”

Tim Box, the county's deputy auditor for elections, has told the supervisors that efforts like pre-election postcards can make sense in an era when news stories about elections don't reach as many people as they once did.

Box has provided the supervisors with data on special elections in Linn County the last four years, and the data shows that the postcards might have made a difference, said Miller, who acknowledged that several factors impact election turnout.

In the Linn-Mar school district, a special election on Feb. 1, 2011, brought out 596 voters. However, a special election in the district on April 1, 2014, attracted 1,189 voters with pre-election postcards.

In the Springville school district, 146 voters voted at a special election on June 25, 2013, while 784 voted at a special election on Sept. 9, 2014, with pre-election postcards.

In the Center Point/Urbana school district, 929 people voted at a special election on Dec. 4, 2012, and 1,146 voted at a special election on April 1, 2014, with pre-election postcards.

In September, what then was Miller's quiet postcard initiative caused a public stir when Linn-Mar Superintendent Katie Mulholland told Miller that the school district wasn't going to pay his bill of $4,892 for the pre-election postcards for the district's April 1 special election.

'I don't believe that it is the county auditor's role to perform a get-out-the-vote campaign (for a school district vote)” Mulholland said then.

Supervisor Langston said the county is apt to set the Linn-Mar bill aside. Similarly, the supervisors last week put a hold on billing for postcards for special elections on Sept. 9 in the Cedar Rapids and Springville school districts and for those on Dec. 2 in the Lisbon school district and the city of Center Point. Langston also said the county likely would reimburse $816 to the Center Point/Urbana school district, which has paid its postcard bill for an April 1, 2014 special election, if the supervisors decide not to bill the other jurisdictions for postcards.

Miller's office spent $292 for pre-election postcards in Tuesday's special election in the city of Springville.

Miller said he decided to try the postcards early in 2014 after taking calls from voters in the North Linn and Central City school districts who said they didn't know anything about the special elections there on Feb. 4, 2014,

'I just got tired of it,” he said. 'I wanted to remove the excuse (of not being told of an election) for not voting.”

Miller this week said he believes that the pre-election postcards have had value and have gotten more people to the polls. Some people have been holding the bright yellow postcards when they show up at the polls, he said.

'Voters seem to be better informed,” he said. 'I'm not hearing the complaints anymore.”

Miller is sending postcards to both the North Linn and Alburnett school districts for their Feb. 3 special elections.

'Well, I think the postcards need to go out regardless of who pays for them because the notification to voters that an election is coming up is inadequate,” Miller said.

Langston said the supervisors are working on the county budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and the supervisors and Miller may have to debate whether to include funding for postcards or not.