Pottawattamie County saw strong turnout during the early voting period

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (WOWT) – The presidential election is just days away.

However, the lines of early voters in the metro are not getting any shorter.

The lines of early voters stretch across the entire second floor of the Pottawattamie County Courthouse. This has been going on for a few days now.

“Pretty much, yeah, and the line may be getting shorter, but it’s been consistent all day since Oct. 16 when we first started,” Houser said. “We get over 600 a day here.”

Melvyn Houser is the Pottawattamie County Elections Commissioner. He says it’s difficult to compare this early voter turnout to the last presidential election.

“Well, it’s hard to compare to 2020 because absentee voting was promoted so much because of the COVID pandemic,” Houser said. “As things get busier, especially in presidential elections, absentee voting is becoming more and more popular.”

Houser says this is the top of the ticket that will get people in Pottawattamie County voting. He told 6 News there will be poll workers on Election Day, but so far he hasn’t heard from the Democratic Party.

“The Republican Party has a number of pollsters who are going to be watching. I don’t know what they’re going to do other than watch, but normally everything goes pretty smoothly and there shouldn’t be any problems. Houser said.

Houser says they don’t have to be wary of political attire or hats at the polls in Iowa as officials in Nebraska do.

“In Iowa, you can wear your campaign T-shirt or hat as long as you wear it plain. You can’t stand on the sidelines and show it, and say vote for this guy, candidate, or vote for this candidate,” Houser said. said.

Houser doesn’t think the long lines of voters will mean lower turnout on Election Day.

“They may go to the polls on Tuesday and then have to wait another half hour or 45 minutes, depending on how busy they are,” Houser said.

Houser says there are about 65,000 registered voters in Pottawattamie County. He doesn’t make any predictions, but he hopes for a turnout of 60-70%.