Check your mail box (U. S. Mail that is) for your new voter registration card.  All 114,373 active voters in Scott County as of Febraury 23, 2012 will receive new voter cards this week.  This mailing will all but complete the redistricting process which began with the 2010 U. S. Census.  Iowa legislative districts were approve last March, and city and county precincts were approved last fall. 

Once the final precincts were approved the Auditor’s Office reassigned voters into their new precincts.  This process took several weeks to complete and could not be started until updating voter history from the 2011 city elections was completed.  The reassignment process was completed in early January.  Identification and verification of polling places, including 24 new polling places was completed in mid February.  The Office of Secretary of State created a file of all active voters at the end of the buisness day on Thursday, February 23rd.  We provided that file to our printing company which began the process of printing the 114,373 individual voter cards and preparing the mailing.  That mailing was delivered to the U. S. Postal Service today.

There were several changes to the voter reassignment process this time as compared to the 2002 process.   First, the Secretary of State has determined that everyone will have their party affiliation (if any) identified on their card.  Previously that decision was made by individual county auditors, and Scott County had opted to not include that information.

Second, the Auditor’s Office used the county geographic information system (GIS) to help in the reassignment process and insure better accuracy.  Previously several hundred voters had not been assigned into the correct precinct.  Auditor Moritz required a GIS review of the voter file which revealed the problem.  Now our office conducts a GIS review before every election to ensure the correct assignment of individual voters.

Finally, our office is mailng out voter registration cards at a non-profit rate pursuant to The National Voter Registration Act of 1993.  The cost of the mailing was just a little under $15,000.  If we had mailed at first class rates it would have cost just over $40,000.

As noted in previous posts, the new precincts required by state redistricting take legal effect today, January 17, 2012.  Redistricting takes place every ten years following the U.S. Census.  Most rural precincts in Iowa remain the same from one redistricting to the next.  Usually bigger cities with wards have to redraw wards and the precincts within those wards.  This year, due to population growth and redistribution, and the effects of state redistricting, four Scott County cities (Bettendorf, Davenport, Eldridge and LeClaire) had to redraw precinct or ward lines.  In addition, Scott County had to redraw precinct lines due to growth in Park View and Buffalo Township, as well as state redistricting which isolated some small towns from their surrounding townships.

Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution requires reapportionment of Congress every ten years based on the population of the states.  Iowa will lose one representative  in congress, dropping from five down to four members, because Iowa has not gained population at the same rate as some other states.

Besides reapportionment of the U.S. Congress, the Iowa General Assembly has been reapportioned as well.  Iowa Constitution Article III, Sections 35 and 36, which deal with apportionment of the General Assembly, were amended in 1968 to bring Iowa in line with the one person, one vote rule set forth by the U.S. Supreme court in a line cases from the early 1960s. 

In Reynolds v. Sims (1964) the Court found a disparity of 14 to 1 in the number of residents in the most populous representative district versus the least populous one in the State of Alabama.  This disparity created what the court found to be an unconstitutional difference in voting power.  Other states had even more egregious differences.  In Connecticut the ratio was 424 to 1; New Hampshire 1,081 to 1; Utah 196 to 1; Vermont 1,000 to 1; California 428 to 1; and the list went on. 

Iowa has a recent history of noncontroversial reapportionments, and our law on reapportionment is cited as the best in the nation.  Iowa Code Chapter 42 sets forth the requirements for reapportionment.  In essence the nonpartisan legislative services agency uses the criteria of state law to objectively draw congressional and legislative lines.  The criteria are based on contiguous area and reduction of population variance (no more than one percent variance between congressional districts and no more than five percent variance between state house districts and state senate districts, respectively). 

In drafting the plan the agency cannot use any demographic information (except for population head counts), previous election results, political affiliation of registered voters, or the addresses of incumbent elected officials.  Each house of the General Assembly votes on the plan as prepared by the legislative services agency without amendment.  If the plan fails to pass one house then the agency drafts another plan using the same criteria, each house can vote on that plan without amendment, and if it fails then a third plan is prepared.  This plan can be amended.

Article III, Section 36 of the Iowa Constitution gives the right of any voter to appeal a redistricting plan to the Iowa Supreme Court.  In 1968 when the law first went into effect some voters appealed to the Supreme Court regarding the plan adopted that year.  The Court found the plan adopted that year did not meet legal requirements and the Supreme Court drafted its own plan.  Since then no plan has been appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court. 

Maps of the new precincts can be found on the Auditor’s page of the Scott County website under the Voting category.

   On December 8, 2011 Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz made a presentation to the Association of Election Commission Officials of Illinois on the topic of election day registration.  Election day registration allows an eligible citizen to register and vote a regular ballot on election day.  Various forms of election day registration are allowed in nine states and the District of Columbia. 

Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz addresses the Association of Illinois Election Officials during their meeting in Galesburg, IL.

Absentee ballots are now available for the November 8, 2011 municipal elections in Scott County.  Ballots are available for all precincts, except for Davenport’s 5th Ward.  Ballots for that Ward are delayed due to the primary election held on October 11th, and will be available at a future date.

Ballots can be requested for mail delivery, or they can be voted over-the-counter at the Auditor’s Office, Scott County Administrative Center, 600 West 4th Street, Davenport, Iowa.  Requests are available on line at this link, http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/auditor/pub/absentee_request/Absentee_Ballot_Request_Form_(fillable).pdf, or by visiting the Auditor’s page at the county website, http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/auditor/.  Ballots requested by mail are sent to voters within 24 hours of receipt in the Auditor’s Office.

Our office has also learned that the U.S. Post Office will not provide a post mark to locally returned business reply mail, such as the return mail for absentee ballots.  Iowa law requires that absentee ballots received by mail after election day must be post marked before election day in order to be counted.  For this election, all ballots must be post marked on or before November 7th.  If you are returning an absentee ballot by mail please ask to have a post mark placed on the envelope, or apply your own postage to insure that the ballot return envelope receives a post mark.  Also, mailed ballots can be returned over-the-counter at the Auditor’s Office until the close of the polls.  For this election that means ballots can be turned in until 8:00 p.m. on November 8th.

There are three types of city elections in Scott County, primary, winner take all (Chapter 45) and run-off.  Buffalo, Davenport and McCausland are primary election cities, meaning that if there are more than two candidates for a seat then a primary election is held to reduce the number of candidates to two.  In run-off elections if no candidate receives a majority of the votes then a run-off election is held between the two candidates who received the most votes.  Only Walcott is a run-off city.  Finally, winner take all elections, found in Iowa Code Chapter 45, are as the name implies, the candidate with the most votes wins, even if it is less than a majority of the votes.  All other cities in Scott County are winner take all.  More information can be found at: http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/auditor/election_types.php

City elections will be held on November 8th, with only one primary election (Davenport’s 5th Ward) to be held on October 11th.  Below is a list of all the candidates for city offices.  An “i” behind a candidate’s name indicates incumbant.  Voters may vote for the number of seats indicates within the parentheses ().

City of Bettendorf

Mayor: Bob Gallagher, Patricia Malinee, Dave Thede

Alderman – At – Large (2 seats): Lisa M. Brown (i), Judy Gackle, Chad A. Miller

1st Ward Alderman: Edward Dean Mayne (i), Thomas Nelson

3rd Ward Alderman: Debe LaMar (i)

5th Ward Alderman: Gary K. Koos, James Stewart (i), Scott Webster

Park Board Commissioner (3 seats): Frank Baden (i), Steve Gustafson, Don Wells (i)

City of Blue Grass

Mayor: Brinson Kinzer (i)

City Council (3 seats): Sandra A. Frericks (i), Brad Schutte, Bonnie Strong (i)

City of Buffalo

Mayor: Doug Anderson (i)

City Council (2 seats) : Judy Hammons (i), Danny Raney, Dave Stickrod,

City of Davenport

Mayor: Bill Gluba (i)

Alderman – At – Large (2 seats): Jason Gordon (i), Gene Meeker (i)

1st Ward Alderman: Nathan Brown (i)

2nd Ward Alderman: Bill Edmond (i)

3rd Ward Alderman: Bill Boom (i)

4th Ward Alderman: Raymond A. Ambrose (i)

5th Ward Alderman (Two candidates with the most votes from the October 11th Primary Election): Rodney Abbott, Sheilia Burrage, Jane Duax, Jordan Schneider, Kevin Spriet

6th Ward Alderman: Jeff Justin (i)

7th Ward Alderman: Barney Barnhill (i)

8th Ward Alderman: Mike Matson (i)

City of Dixon

City Council (2 seats): Amy L. Flynn (i), Write-In

City of Donahue

Mayor: Ken Schoenthaler (i)

City Council (2 seats): Adam Ganzer, Scott D. Wiley (i)

City of Eldridge

City Council (3 seats): Adrian Blackwell, Bernie Peeters (i), Steve Puls (i)
 
City of LeClaire

Mayor: Robert J. Scannell (i)

City Council (2 seats): Terri Applegate, Matthew W. Auliff, Mary Farmer (i), Judy Hartig

City of Long Grove

Mayor: Ida Weibel (i)
 
City Council (3 seats): Donald Abington Jr. (i), Nancy Carol Dalton, Cynthia C. Davis (i)

City of Maysville

Mayor: Write-In

City Council (5 seats): Kelly Johnson, Marilyn Ralfs (i), Marvin Reimers (i), Tawnya K. Stiles, Write-In

City of McCausland

Mayor: Damien Koehn (i)

City Council (3 seats): Lloyd R. Claussen (i), Robert A. McCaughey (i), Mike Ross (i),

City Council (To Fill a Vacancy – To end of term): Write-In

City of New Liberty

Mayor: Write-In

City Council (2 seats): Write-In, Write-In

City of Panorama Park

Mayor: David White

City Council (5 seats): Charlie Butler (i), Susan Hamilton-Trudell (i), Julie A. Naab (i), Andy White (i), Write-In

City of Princeton

Mayor: Brent Herman
 
City Council (3 seats): Brian D. Carter (i), Ann Geiger (i), Kevin M. Kernan (i)

City of Riverdale

Mayor: John J. Franklin

City Council (3 seats): Jim Beran, Cheryl J. Channon (i), Dean Arthur Halsey, Donna Hunt, Judith Krell, Douglas H. Littrel, Athena Smith

City of Walcott

City Council (3 seats): Tim Koehler (i), Lisa Mengler, Jacob Puck (i)

Contact information supplied by the candidates to the Auditor’s Office can be found at:

November 8th election – http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/auditor/candidates.php?election=20111108&party=ALL

October 11th election – http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/auditor/candidates.php?election=20111011&party=ALL