(Harlan) The Shelby County Auditor’s Office has been fielding concerns from voters who have received multiple absentee ballot request forms in the mail.
Shelby County Auditor Mark Maxwell says once ballot applications are recorded, other applications from that voter are dismissed but kept on file. Many organizations send out mailers with the Auditor’s office address on them. Auditors are not allowed to mail unrequested ballot request forms to voters.
Maxwell says political parties and other organizations are permitted to send mass mailings of request forms to voters. He says that sometimes voters are confused by receiving multiple request forms, but with our online recordkeeping, it’s easy for us to determine if someone inadvertently completed and mailed us more than one of these requests. He says they will only send out one ballot per voter.
The Auditor’s office will mail ballots to voters who have filed requests on October 16. That is also the day voters can begin to cast absentee ballots in person at the courthouse at 612 Court Street in Harlan.
Requests for mailed ballots must be in the Auditor’s office by 5:00 p.m. on October 21. No ballots will be mailed for requests received after that date. However, In-person Absentee voting at the courthouse will continue through Monday, November 4, the day before the election.
Ballots returned by mail must be in the auditor’s office by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day, November 5, to be counted.
Suppose you haven’t received one of the flurry of ballot request forms in the mail but would like to vote absentee by mail. In that case, you can download a form from the Iowa Secretary of State’s website at https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/pdf/absenteeballotapp.pdf, or you may call the Shelby County Auditor’s Office at 712-755-3831 extension 6 to ask for a request form to be sent to you. And remember, after October 21st, no more ballots are allowed to be mailed.
