Government : Auditor encourages voters to request absentee ballots for Primary Election

Benton County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Hayley Rippel is encouraging those wishing to vote in the June 2 Primary Election to vote absentee by mail due to the recent concerns with coronavirus and COVID-19.

We are working with the Secretary of State's office and public health officials to ensure the safety of our voters and election workers. We are asking our voters to vote absentee by mail for the June Primary Election.

Rippel said polling locations will be open for voting on June 2, however we will be combining some precincts creating fewer polling locations than normal for a Primary Election.

It has not yet been determined which polling locations will be combined. That will be announced soon.

Absentee ballots must be requested in writing. Forms are available on the Benton County Web site at https://www.bentoncountyelections.org/vote/absentee/. Absentee ballot requests may also be obtained by calling the Benton County Auditor's Office and requesting one be sent. The Benton County Auditor's Office phone number is 319-472-2365. Requests may be submitted now.

Absentee requests to vote by mail must be received in the Auditor's Office by 5 p.m. May 22.

Voters are reminded that for the Primary Election they must choose a political party on the request form in order to receive the correct ballot.

Absentee voters are also reminded they will need to provide a personal identification number (PIN) when voting absentee either in person or by mail. That PIN will most likely be your Iowa driver's license number or your Iowa non-operator's ID number. If a voter does not have either of those, the voter should have been sent a PIN in December from the Iowa Secretary of State's Office.

We will be updating the public as soon as we get the information on the Primary Election with the concerns with the coronavirus and COVID-19.

For more information about the 2020 Primary Election follow Benton County Election Facebook and Twitter posts.