Many people in western Iowa are among those throughout the state taking advantage of the last few days of early voting before Election Day.
Drake Copeland, 18, voted for his first time Friday in Sioux City.
“I’ve waited so long to be able to do it and I finally got my chance to,” Copeland said, after casting his ballot at the Tyson Events Center.
He says he was excited to vote for Libertarian Jake Porter for governor.
“He’s something new,” Copeland said. “He seems like the true American values, so I was like ‘I’m going to go with this guy’.”
Sergeant Bluff resident Eli Kempema, 19, also voted for his first time on Friday in Sioux City before he goes back to college in Omaha.
“I mean it was pretty cool knowing that my decision would affect my local government and stuff, and that I was making a difference…” Kempema said.
He says he is interested in the 4th Congressional District race between eight-term Republican incumbent Steve King and Democrat J.D. Scholten.
As of Friday morning, Woodbury County voters returned about 82 percent of the over 16,000 absentee ballots requested. The county auditor's office says Democrats have returned about 5,300 ballots out of 6,500 while Republicans have returned 5,600 of 6,600 requested. Those affiliated with no party have returned 2,400 of the 3,200 requested ballots.
The state earlier this year changed the early voting period from 40 to 29 days, but Woodbury County Auditor Pat Gill says they’ve received about 150 more Democratic requests compared to the 2014 governor’s race.
“We anticipated we might be down a little bit," said Gill, on voter turnout as a whole. "The races are very competitive up and down the ticket. That’s what drives turnout.”
In Calhoun County, more than 1,400 absentee ballots were requested as of Friday morning, up 600 from 2014, according to the county auditor’s office.
“I think people are really taking an interest in voting,” County Auditor Robin Batz said. “I think people are looking for change.”
Batz says they’re still waiting for about 130 ballots to be returned.
