Views from the Linn County Auditor

Board of Supervisors' Districts

Today, we started adding information into our web site on the new Linn County Board of Supervisors' Districts, which are effective January 1, 2009.  Please take a look at the information and let us know if you have any suggestions.  We will continue to update as needed.  --Joel @ 2:55pm

Candidate Profiles by the Numbers

On October 15th, I posted the first candidate profiles for the November 6th city elections on the Auditor's web site.  As of Election Day, 30 of the 98 candidates had provided profiles. 

As of 9am on November 7th (the day after the election), the candidate profiles had been downloaded/viewed a total of 1,515 times.  As of 10am today, these same profiles have been downloaded/viewed an additional 617 times, i.e., a total of 2,132 times.

Neither of the Chucks running in tomorrow's election provided profiles, which leads me to believe that the public is viewing the profiles to figure out who they elected and who they didn't elect.  Suppose anyone is having "buyer's remorse"?  Suppose the non-voters are thinking, "I guess I should have taken the time to vote"?

Too bad only 1/3 of the candidates provided profiles.  No doubt, I need to ask for the profiles earlier in the campaign season to give the candidates more time to provide their profiles. 

I borrowed the idea of posting candidate profiles from Story County, Iowa.  Thank you Mary Mosiman, Auditor & Commissioner of Elections for leading the way!  --Joel @ 11:00am

Chuck versus Chuck - Cedar Rapids City Council District 4 Runoff Absentee Ballots

As of 9:30am, 107 voters have requested absentee ballots for the District 4 runoff election and 92 have returned them.  For the November 6th election, 128 voters requested absentee ballots and 118 voters returned the ballots.  Theoretically, this means about the same number of voters should show up at the polls, but with the colder weather and icier streets ... and only one race on the ballot, the turnout will likely be lower.

On the other hand, both candidates appear to be running active campaigns this time around, so maybe, just maybe, they will increase the voter turnout versus November 6th.  --Joel @ 10:15am