By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Iowans can vote in this fall’s election for president, members of the U.S. House of Representatives, state lawmakers and more. It’s the first presidential election since Republicans in the Iowa Legislature passed sweeping voting law changes that shortened the time allowed for voting by mail, voting early in-person and voting on Election Day.
This year, Iowans can start voting in-person on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at their county auditor’s office or county elections office, and some counties have additional early voting sites. It’s also the first day county auditors can start mailing absentee ballots to voters who requested them.
Find more details here about getting registered to vote and updating your registration if you’ve moved. The voter pre-registration deadline is Oct. 21, but Iowans can also register to vote at their early voting site or at their polling place on Election Day.
Voting early in person
Every county will have its county auditor’s office or county elections office open for in-person early voting Oct. 16 through Nov. 4. Additional early voting locations may be available in your county. You can find more information on your county auditor’s website or social media, or by calling their office. Find your county auditor here.
Iowa has a voter ID law. Bring one of these to vote:
- Iowa Driver’s License
- Iowa Non-Operator ID
- Iowa Voter Identification Card (request one from your county auditor if you need it)
- Military ID or Veteran ID
- U.S. Passport
- Tribal ID Card/Document
If your voter registration is updated with your current address, your ID does not have to reflect your current address. If you don’t have any of these forms of ID when you go to vote early in-person or on Election Day, you can bring Election Day registration documents or have another voter registered in the precinct attest to your identity. If you don’t have any of those with you, you can vote a provisional ballot and come back later to provide ID or necessary documents to have your ballot counted.
Iowans can register to vote online, at their county auditor’s office or other early voting location, or at their polling place on Election Day.
Voting by mail
To vote by mail, you have to request a ballot. Your ballot request form must be received by your county auditor by 5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 21. But election officials recommend requesting a ballot far ahead of that deadline to allow enough time for the ballot to arrive in the mail. Find detailed information about requesting a ballot here.
When you receive a ballot from your county auditor after they start going out in the mail on Oct. 16, follow all the instructions that come with the ballot to make sure your vote is counted. Be sure to seal the outer envelope and sign it.
Voters can bring their completed absentee ballot to their county auditor’s office or county elections office. The ballot must be received by your county auditor by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5. Some counties have a ballot drop box.
Or, you can mail your completed ballot back to your county auditor. The ballot must be received by your county auditor by 8 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 5, in order to get counted. This is a major difference from the deadline for the 2020 election. If you’re going to mail your completed ballot, election officials say to do that as far ahead of time as possible to avoid possible mail delays. It could take about a week for a ballot to arrive in the mail, especially in rural areas of the state.
Election officials recommend checking the secretary of state’s website to see what date your absentee ballot is mailed to you and what date it’s received by your county auditor.
Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald said Iowans who mail their ballot should check the online ballot tracker to make sure it was received. If it’s Election Day and your ballot isn’t showing up on the tracker, Fitzgerald noted that you should do the following:
“We want you to go to your polling site, and you vote what’s called a provisional ballot if we don’t know if your ballot’s been received yet,” Fitzgerald said. “You’ll say, ‘I sent my ballot. It didn’t get in.’ And then that’s a way that we make sure that you don’t get two votes.”
For Iowans who want or need assistance with returning their absentee ballot: If a voter wants someone else to deliver their absentee ballot to their county auditor, that person must be someone living in the voter’s household, an immediate family member or the election official who delivers a ballot to a resident of a health care facility or hospital. They can deliver the ballot to the county auditor’s office or the ballot drop box outside the office if available.
If one of those options is not available to a voter who is unable to return their own ballot because of blindness or other disability, they can ask someone else to be a “delivery agent” and return their ballot. The “delivery agent” must be a registered voter in Iowa and cannot be the voter’s employer, an officer of the voter’s union or an actual or implied agent for a political party, candidate or committee. The voter must complete and sign a designation form. The “delivery agent” must deliver the ballot in person to the county auditor’s office along with the form, and must show their own identification and sign a statement that they’ve complied with the law. The delivery agent is not allowed to use the ballot drop box or the mail to return the ballot. The delivery agent must provide the voter with a receipt and cannot deliver more than two absentee ballots per election.
Voting in-person on Election Day, Nov. 5, is also an option. Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Click here to find your polling place.
The Iowa Secretary of State’s office has also compiled voting resources here.
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