Washington County faced plenty of Election Night trouble

WASHINGTON — Election results from Washington County were not entirely completed by the end of Election Day on Nov. 5, 2024., leaving much of the state in suspense about the outcome of a hotly contested race for U.S. House District 1, as well as a handful of state legislative races and a local bond issue vote.

Washington County had only one of its precincts fully reported by 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, according to an election tracker tool on the Iowa Secretary of State’s website. By 9 a.m. Wednesday, it was one of just two counties in the state with incomplete election results online. The other was Story County.

What took so long?

Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer said his office had encountered “scanner issues” with absentee ballots, and said in a call shortly after midnight Nov. 6 that officials would resume the count at 8 a.m. after getting the all-clear to go home for the night from state election higher-ups.

As of 11:45 a.m. Nov. 6, these are the results of the elections on Washington County ballots, save for a handful of provisional ballots the county expects to decide the validity of next week.

Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer said the problem with absentee ballots was sorted out after several phone calls with a vendor, but it put local elections staff behind schedule by several hours. He said his office needed more time to finish reporting the outcome, and tentatively hoped to finish processing all the votes by noon on Nov. 6.

“We’ve uploaded the results from all of the outlying precincts, we have those,” Widmer said in a call shortly after midnight. “But we had some issues with the absentee ballots … which took about three, three-and-a-half hours to repair, fix or to correct. So they got a late start, and they are going to come back in the morning and finish.”

The wait put all eyes on Washington County going into Wednesday, with its results set to effectively pick the winner in the race for Iowa’s U.S. House District 1, where Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks was ahead of Democratic challenger Christina Bohannan by just 413 ballots, as of 12:30 a.m. Nov. 6.

“It’s really close, like about 400 votes difference, and so everybody wants to know, ‘Hey, when are you going to get finished in Washington County and how long will it be?’” Widmer said.

Trump wins presidency, Miller-Meeks wins House seat

Presidential results in Washington County:

Donald Trump/JD Vance (GOP): 7,118

Kamala Harris/Tim Walz (Dem): 4,296

Most major news outlets called the national presidential election for Trump early Wednesday morning, after the Republican former president won Wisconsin, putting him over the 270 Electoral College vote threshold to secure re-election.

U.S. Congressional District 1: (including all U.S. House District 1 counties at 9 a.m. Nov. 6)

Mariannette Miller-Meeks (GOP): 203,899

Christina Bohannan (Dem): 203,486

Write-ins: 952

An updated overall vote total was not available from the Iowa Secretary of State by 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, but unofficial results released directly from Washington County at that time showed Miller-Meeks leading there with a 6,615-4,705 tally, enough to keep her 413-point advantage from the previous night.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette reported Miller-Meeks declaring victory in a speech at the Riverside Casino early Wednesday morning, although the incumbent added that she anticipated a recount in the contest, one of the closest races in the nation for the U.S. House.

In an email to reporters, Miller-Meeks’ campaign also declared an early victory in a press release around 1:30 a.m. Nov. 6.

“With a margin of over 400 votes, the Miller-Meeks team is confident in a positive result when all votes are counted,” the release said.

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GOP wins down-ballot races for state legislature

Washington County’s Republican state legislators — Sen. Dawn Driscoll and Rep. Heather Hora — have both secured another term in Des Moines, according to unofficial election results released by Washington, Johnson and Iowa county auditors Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.

The results shared by several county auditors’ offices Tuesday night were unofficial and await a final canvas by their respective boards of supervisors in the coming weeks. But they’re a solid indicator of the counties’ election outcomes; Washington County hasn’t seen the canvassing process change a race’s outcome in recent memory.

State Senate District 46: (including Iowa, Washington and parts of Johnson County at 9 a.m. Nov. 6)

Dawn Driscoll (GOP): 18,349

Ed Chabal (Dem): 11,592

An accurately updated overall vote total was not available from the Iowa Secretary of State by 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, but unofficial results released directly from Washington County at that time showed Driscoll maintaining her lead from the previous night once absentee ballots were processed in Washington County.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the Republican senator thanked voters for their support.

“For the last several months, we have been working hard talking to voters and spreading the message about Iowa's historic accomplishments, and how we still have more we want to do to make Iowa an even better state,” Driscoll said in a text. “The people of my district heard that message and made their voices clear, and I am honored to be re-elected to the Iowa Senate representing Senate District 46 for the next four years.”

The incumbent hit the campaign trail over the summer, knocking on every door in every community of Senate District 46 which includes Washington and Iowa counties, plus most of rural Johnson County including Hills, Tiffin, Oxford and Swisher.

A cattle farmer, mother, and staunch Republican, Driscoll ran on a platform that promised continued tax cuts and support for agriculture as top priorities. Leading up to the election, she said constituents were “begging us for more tax relief,” an observation that appears accurate, based on the race’s outcome.

The Williamsburg senator’s third election win in four years follows her initial victory in 2020, and a battle against fellow incumbent Kevin Kinney, a Democrat, after statewide redistricting left them vying for the same seat in 2022. That race was one of the highest-budget elections in Iowa that year, with both political parties spending a combined total of over $1 million on their candidates’ behalf in advertisements alone.

Driscoll backed a number of bills in the last two years that she said were wins for education. A raise in the minimum salary for teachers, for instance, passed with bipartisan support.

Other efforts were more ideologically contentious, a fact challenger candidate Ed Chabal — a former school finance administrator in Mt. Pleasant — hoped would galvanize voters on the left. While Driscoll said Educations Savings Account would spur competition, Chabal said the money traded off with funding for public schools. Driscoll argued Area Education Agency finance reform gave districts greater control of their funding and services, while Chabal asserted it only allowed larger, well-funded districts that luxury, leaving rural ones behind in less-supported AEAs.

The Democrat’s pitch evidently fell short, however, as Driscoll emerged victorious. Reached for comments shortly after results were announced, Chabal said he didn’t regret stepping into the political arena, and congratulated his opponent on her victory.

“I’m disappointed that the voters of Senate District 46 did not want to vote for change,” he said. “Our campaign focused on issues that we heard were the greatest importance … I just hope that Sen. Driscoll will listen to her constituents and represent their voices in Des Moines.”

State House District 92: (Including Washington and parts of Johnson County at 9 a.m. Nov. 6)

Heather Hora (GOP): 6,340

Anna Banowsky (Dem): 4,019

An accurately updated overall vote total was not available from the Iowa Secretary of State by 11:45 a.m. Wednesday, but unofficial results released directly from Washington County at that time showed Hora maintaining her lead from the previous night once absentee ballots were processed.

Hora said she was pleased with the result, thanking her family and supporters who helped organize the campaign.

“I feel like voters have spoke, loudly,” she said, referring to her victory and that of other Republicans at the top of the ticket. “They love our message of getting rid of the burdensome regulations, and protecting our freedoms. The Republicans across the board have won. I think it’s fantastic, and going into this next session I think we’ll be in a better position because we’ll be working with the Trump White House.”

The Republican incumbent held a fairly secure seat in Washington County, which hasn’t elected a Democrat to the house since 2008, when Rep. Larry Marek won a close race for the seat that was vacant at the time.

She defended her seat against challenger candidate Anna Banowsky, a relatively young Democrat living in Washington who pitched herself as the compromise-seeking daughter of a Quad Cities Democrat and a Texas Republican.

Banowsky had hoped to capitalize on small-government Conservatives’ discontent over the Republican Party’s recent pursuit of abortion restrictions and support for private schools, as well as controversy surrounding the GOP’s presidential candidate at the top of the ticket.

That strategy didn’t pan out, however. Hora won the race by a healthy margin, riding a wave of support from rural Republican voters energized by her Conservative politics, agricultural background and glowing endorsements from party higher-ups.

“She does an incredible job, you are so lucky to have her representing you at the state House,” Gov. Kim Reynolds said at a campaign fundraiser for Hora two weeks before Election Day. “I had been encouraging her to run for state House for quite some time, and was so excited when she made the decision to run … I love working with her, she’s passionate about serving.”

Banowsky did not immediately reply to a request for comments Wednesday afternoon.

No surprises in uncontested county-level races

In Washington County’s local elections, every name on the ballot was an uncontested Republican candidate. As expected, Supervisors Jack Seward Jr., Bob Yoder and Stan Stoops all appear set for another term in their offices, as is Sheriff Jared Schneider.

County Attorney Nathan Repp also won his election, meaning he’s no longer an appointed replacement to former County Attorney John Gish, but an elected official backed by the county’s constituents. Tammy Stewart, currently a deputy county auditor, had an uncontested race as well, and will take on the department’s leadership role with the retirement of current Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer at the start of next year.

Here are the unofficial vote totals for each of those local elections:

District 1 Supervisor Jack Seward Jr.: 1,819

District 2 Supervisor Bob Yoder: 1,758

District 3 Supervisor Stan Stoops: 1,785

County Auditor Tammy Stewart: 9,002

County Sheriff Jared Schneider: 9,619

County Attorney Nathan Repp: 8,802

The Cedar Rapid’s Gazette’s Erin Murphy contributed to this report.

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com