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IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The 2020 election saw many voters cast their ballots in ways much different than they're used to. The pandemic resulted in a surge in absentee voting by mail, but drive-through voting also surfaced -- and one Iowa official believes it has staying power.
Johnson County Auditor Travis Weipert said he was floored when people asked to bring the option back for future elections. Weipert said he thought it was just a "one-and-done" deal because of the crisis and concerns about voting in person.
"I have received so many 'thank yous'," he said, "and letters of, 'You're going to continue the drive-through voting, right?'"
His office said 18,000 Johnson County residents took advantage of drive-through voting this fall. Weipert said he wants to make it a permanent part of the voting process in his county, but other auditors say not all jurisdictions will have the resources to pull it off, even if voters demand it.
Johnson County was able to make use of a parking garage at the Health and Human Services Building in Iowa City. Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz, who also is president of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors, credited Weipert's work to make voting more accessible. However, she said, she thinks logistics will make it harder for the option to catch on throughout the state.
"Of course, you'd have to have enough staff to be able to do that," she said, "and you'd have to have a venue, such as what he had, to be able to do that."
Drive-through voting is seen as an extension of curbside voting. Most curbside programs were intended to help those with difficulty entering a polling place because of a disability, but states such as Iowa expanded the service this year for anyone deemed at high risk for COVID-19.
As for absentee voting, Weipert said he believes people who tried it for the first time this year will do so again -- not only for the convenience, but because it also helps them become more informed voters.
"The other thing I hear from voters," he said, "is, 'It gives me a chance to look up the judges and other candidates I knew nothing about, and actually vote on that race.'"
The secretary of state has said more than 1 million Iowans requested absentee ballots for the November election, a state record.
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Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.
