Linn County election office wants more military, expatriates voting

CEDAR RAPIDS - Linn County's election office is working to identify more local residents who are serving in the military to make it easier for them to vote back home.

To accomplish that, Joel Miller, Linn County Auditor and commissioner of elections, has hired a new temporary staff member, U.S. Navy veteran Kristin Delfs, as his office's military and overseas voter liaison.

Tim Box, the county's deputy commissioner of elections, on Monday said Linn County wants to increase the number of those in the military as well as civilians living overseas who cast absentee ballots.

Those in the military, whether serving in the United States or overseas, as well as civilians living overseas can vote in Linn County if Linn County was the last place they registered to vote before joining the military or moving overseas, he said.

Box said the federal government requires those in the military to update their voter request forms each year so individuals' addresses are more likely to be current and so a ballot from a local election office will reach them.

In addition, the federal government permits anyone in the military living away from their home community to receive a local ballot by email and to cast it by email. Civilians overseas can receive a ballot via email, but must mail a hard copy back to the elections office.

In the 2010 election in Iowa, 236 members of the military or overseas civilians had ballots sent to them from the Linn County elections office, with 68 returning them. In the 2012 presidential election, the numbers jumped to 586 requests and 464 returned.

Box said the goal is to get at least 300 votes this non-presidential election year, an increase of 340 percent from the 68 who voted in 2010.

Delfs already is communicating via email with those who had ballots mailed to them in the past to let them know she can help.

'The goal is to have her focus and keep communicating with them,” Box said. 'We didn't have time to do it before.”

He invited relatives and friends of those in the military or civilians living overseas to contact his office at 892-5300 or to email Delfs at Elections.Military@linncounty.org.

The federal government is tracking how local election offices and states work to help increase this vote, Box said.

Miller said Delfs will handle other election duties in his office as well as work with military and overseas voters.