Counties begin mailing out absentee ballots today

County auditors all over Iowa have been flooded with absentee ballot requests over the past couple months.

On Monday morning, they started mailing out record numbers of absentee ballots.

Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer said that his office will mail out about 4,000 ballots on Monday morning.

'We've got a whole lot of them going out,” Widmer said. 'I think we're going to need a truck to get them all over to the post office.”

Johnson and Henry counties reported that they will each mail out about 3,100 ballots on Monday.

'It could be more by Monday,” Henry County Auditor Shelly Barber said on Friday. 'We usually get a large amount (of ballot requests) over the weekend.”

Jefferson County Auditor Scott Reneker said that everything is running smoothly with the requests, despite the high volume.

'We've got about double the amount that we had four years ago,” Reneker said. 'A lot of people are opting to vote this method who haven't done it before.”

For the 2016 general election, Jefferson County mailed out 500 ballots on the first day they could be sent and just more than 1,600 total absentee ballots by the time Election Day arrived.

Henry County mailed out 2,645 absentee ballots prior to Election Day in 2016, while Washington County sent out just over 4,700 for the 2016 General Election.

While the distribution of absentee ballots has been running smoothly in all three counties, auditors reported that there has been some confusion among voters about ballot requests.

'The only confusion has been with so many different entities sending out request forms,” Barber said. 'We get a lot of duplicates.

'A lot of people don't always know what to do and are afraid of messing up.”

Widmer said a lot of people do not understand that the multiple forms are not coming from the auditors.

'We don't send out a form unless someone specifically requests one,” Widmer said.

All three auditors said that they received multiple duplicate absentee ballot requests, but that does not mean a voter will receive multiple ballots.

Widmer explained that there are safeguards in place to keep that from happening.

'If we get a request for a ballot, it is logged into the system,” he said. 'If we get another one from you tomorrow, it will show that you've already requested one.

'You're only going to get one ballot no matter how many ballot requests you send.”

Absentee voters have different options to submit their ballots.

Each ballot comes with a postage-paid envelope, enabling voters to mail their ballot for free.

Reneker acknowledged that there has recently been a focus on the U.S. Postal Service's ability to handle all the mailed ballots.

'There has been more focus lately on the Postal Service and their ability to handle the process,” he said. 'Voters have the option to bring it straight to our office if they choose to.”

Voters in any county have the option of personally delivering their ballots to their respective auditors.

In addition, Washington and Henry counties each have secure drop boxes where voters can deposit their ballots. Jefferson County does not have a drop box.

Barber said it is important for voters to submit the ballots they received.

'If you request a ballot by mail, send in that ballot,” she said. 'We have to account for all of the ballots.”