Iowans voting absentee in Tuesday’s Democratic and Republican primaries have the option of hand-delivering their ballots on Saturday. Sec. of State Paul Pate says the auditor’s offices in all 99 counties will be open for eight hours.
"Absentee ballots seem to be a trend where people are using it at high and higher volumes," says Pate. "And when you start mailing it on a Saturday or Sunday, there's a good chance we may not receive it in time, so we want to make sure we get their vote counted."
Absentee voters can also mail their ballots as late as Monday, though as Pate states, there is a risk of the ballot not arriving in time to be counted.
So far the Secretary of State’s office reports 25,551 primary absentee ballots have been received. In 2014 absentee votes totaled 40,718.
For those still deciding whether to vote in the Democratic or Republican primary, Iowa has same-day registration.
And for absentee-voter procrastinators, polls on Tuesday are open from 7:00 am until 9:00 pm.
