The Jasper County Auditor’s Office has had numerous questions concerning what voters will experience on the day of the Iowa Primary Election on Tuesday, June 3, in Jasper County when they go to the polls.
Polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. There are 20 polling places throughout the county. Watch your local newspaper for a list of the polling places or contact the auditor’s office if you are unsure where you need to go to vote.
Jasper County has changed five polling places, and they are as follows:
In the city of Newton, voters in the Newton 2-1 precinct will now vote at Immanuel Baptist Church. Voters in the Newton 2-2 precinct will now vote at St. Luke United Methodist Church. Voters in the Newton 4-1 precinct will now vote at the Jasper County Historical Museum. Voters in the Newton 4-2 precinct will now vote at the American Legion.
Residents of Lambs Grove, Newton Township and Sherman Township will vote at the Union Hall in a separate area from Newton 1-1 precinct.
Voters will be greeted by precinct election officials. The State of Iowa has a Closed Primary, which means that voters will have to decide if they will vote a Democratic Candidate Ballot or a Republican Candidate Ballot. The precinct election official will ask you which party’s ballot you wish to vote.
Jasper County, like 56 other counties in Iowa uses the Precinct Atlas computer program to check in and verify voters. Voters will be asked to sign a Declaration of Eligibility form to get a ballot and will have the option to have the bar code on the back of their driver’s licenses or the barcode on their Voter Registration Card scanned to expedite the process. Both forms of identification are optional to check in to vote. A voter may choose to fill out their Declaration of Eligibility form by hand and not use an ID. Both ways are acceptable.
There is a misconception with some voters that a photo ID is necessary to vote. If you are already a registered voter in the county you are not required to show a photo ID to vote. Under Iowa law only those people who are registering to vote for the first time in Jasper County or updating their voter registration information on the day of the election will need identification. That identification must be current, have a photo and list the person’s residence.
After the voter has been verified a label with the voter’s information is placed on the Declaration of Eligibility. The voter then presents the Declaration to the person handing out the ballots and is given the proper ballot. After voting the ballot, it is placed in the voting machine where it is counted. The results are tallied after the polls close at 9 p.m.
Anyone with questions about the process may contact the Jasper County Auditor’s Office at (641) 792-7016.