Early Voting Available at Johnston Public Library

Johnston residents wanting to take part in early voting no longer have to travel to the Polk County election office in downtown Des Moines.

The satellite early voting site at the Johnston Public Library opened today and runs through Oct. 27.

Early voting at the library takes place from:

• 1 to 7 p.m. Monday to Thursday
• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fridays
• Saturday voting will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 27

Eligible voters will be in precincts Johnston 1-6, Johnston 1 (Webster Township), Johnston 3 (Webster Township), Grimes 1-3; Jefferson 1 and Granger 1

Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald ramped up staffing levels ahead of Sept. 27, the first day of early voting in Iowa, the first of the battleground states to cast ballots in the 2012 presidential election.

Early voting continues through Nov. 5 at the downtown location.

Early voting is important in Iowa. As of late September, registered Democrats had requested 109,709 absentee ballots in Iowa, while Republicans had requested only a fraction of that number – 20,548.

Recent polls put Romney behind in Iowa by as much as five or six points, longtime Iowa GOP fundraiser and activist Becky Beach told Real Clear Politics, but she thinks Republican gains in voter registration may help offset that.

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Early voting has always been “a strong Democrat process,” she said  “It doesn’t worry me that they have an advantage, as we have made some real gains in voter registration this year.”

As of Sept. 4, registered Republicans outnumbered registered Democrats, 620,868 to 602,636, but registered voters who did not declare a party outnumber both with 666,279 voters.

While Democrats have been pushing early voting throughout the summer, the Romney campaign waited to make its push until the ballots actually became available. Real Clear Politics said the first of 10 scheduled mailings on early-voting information will hit Republicans’ mailboxes this week.

In Polk County, Fitzgerald said, absentee ballot requests are about double what they were in 2008.

Fitzgerald said that by the end of this week or before, his office will have firmed up the 11 Polk County satellite locations, where voting will begin on Oct. 8. Campaigns, individuals and others have petitioned for another dozen satellite locations that will be open on Saturdays to be determined, Fitzgerald said.

One change this year will be that a registered voter in Polk County may vote at any satellite location, regardless of whether it is in the person’s city of residence, a change that is designed to boost voter participation in the Nov. 6 election.

Hours for in-person voting in the Election Office, located at 120 Second Ave., Suite, A, Des Moines, are:

• Monday-Friday: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday, Oct. 27: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday, Nov. 3: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.