Expecting a surge of mail-in votes, Iowa will give counties a head-start on opening absentee ballots
County election officials will have more time to begin opening absentee ballot envelopes ahead of Election Day this year under an emergency election directive approved Friday by Iowa legislators.
The directive comes as Iowa election officials anticipate they will need to count large numbers of absentee ballots in a short window of time as more people vote absentee due to the coronavirus.
The Legislative Council Friday afternoon unanimously approved Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate's request to allow counties to begin the process of opening the outer absentee ballot envelopes on the Saturday before Election Day, rather than the traditional day before. The ballots themselves must remain in their secrecy envelopes and still cannot be counted before Nov. 2, the day before Election Day.
"If a county auditor takes advantage of this time on Saturday, Oct. 31, they would likely be able to begin tabulating earlier on Monday before the election," Secretary of State legal counsel Molly Widen said on Friday's conference call with legislators.
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/09/25/iowa-counties-can-begin-opening-absentee-ballots-early/3515900001/
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