skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Will Drive-Through Voting Stick? One IA Official Hopes So

play audio
Play

Wednesday, November 18, 2020   

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.

---

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Environment

play sound

Traffic deaths are trending higher in Minnesota this year after a decline the previous year. Groups pushing for safer roads are convinced a small …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021