Views from the Linn County Auditor

Day's end for my first election

It’s 11:15pm and the office is empty.  Everyone (I think) has left and, hopefully, arrived safe at home or wherever.  This has been a great first election for me.  The staff acted professionally and calmly.  Problems were addressed in a timely manner.  The overall stress level was low … or least unapparent to me.  I stayed out of the way and let everyone do their jobs and they performed fabulously.  I visited 9 polling places and met several precinct election officials (PEOs).  Our county and country are forever indebted to those PEOs for the time they devote and the service they provide to ensure we have the option to participate in our democracy.  Today, we made a decision to peacefully change our county government.  Democracy worked - whether or not you liked the outcome - it worked.  Good night - sleep tight!  --Joel @ 11:34pm

3pm voter statistics

Here's the statistics from the 3pm precinct reports.  Using the 2/13/2007 election as a comparison, today's voter turnout in the CR precincts did not exceed the 3pm turnout reported on 2/13/2007.  Two Marion precincts have exceeded the 2/13/2007 turnout and 9 non-CR precincts have exceeded the 2/13/2007 turnout.  Compared to 2/13/2007, overall voter turnout is down by more than 2%.  --Joel @ 4:27pm

	2/13/07	CURRENT		2/13/07	CURRENT
CR PCTS	11:00	11:00		3:00	3:00
01-GWAEA	31	38		61	45
02-FOUR OAKS	46	33		87	59
03-HOPE LUTH	88	74		173	124
04-CZECH MUSEUM	55	41		98	85
05-1ST LUTHERAN	3	2		13	7
06-PUBLIC LIBRARY	18	18		43	31
07-COUNTY AOB	49	25		95	51
08-NEW CREATION	48	26		97	67
09-VAN BUREN	105	77		193	140
10-MOOSE LODGE	97	61		173	103
11-CLEVELAND	99	98		230	170
12-COOLIDGE	195	93		340	173
13-GLORIA DEI	83	61		169	121
14-TRUMAN	97	65		182	130
15-HOOVER	71	64		161	124
16-MADISON	95	61		199	138
17-TAFT	107	60		192	108
18-ST JAMES	104	60		196	118
19-TIME CHK	56	49		107	78
20-HARRISON	78	80		158	128
21- DAY CARE	61	40		126	83
22- TAYLOR	50	40		95	68
23-OAKLAND CHUR	204	126		415	234
24- PIERCE	151	100		305	219
25-WRIGHT	105	83		227	144
26-ARTHUR	103	87		192	162
27-HARDING	76	65		193	125
28-KTOS	59	55		114	107
29-PEACE CH	83	68		147	127
30-KING OF KINGS	144	89		264	158
31NOELRIDGE CHR	141	81		278	144
32-NIXON	57	46		127	72
33-NEW COVENANT	75	38		151	86
34-OPTIONS OF LC	40	27		62	47
35-JOHNSON	58	34		90	75
36-POLK	32	27		58	50
37-ISAAC NEWTON	43	26		97	58
38-FAITH UNITED CH	52	44		95	65
39-FRANKLIN	72	60		174	143
40-WASHINGTON HS	99	84		189	155
41-BETHANY	170	186		345	273
42-GRANT WOOD EL	109	60		225	153
43-ST STEPHEN'S	100	81		197	149
44-MONROE SCH	91	78		194	136
45-ERSKINE SCH	167	143		313	249
46-COMM OF CHRIST	74	58		143	100
47-GIBSON SCH	60	31		125	50
CR TOTAL	4001	2943		7908	5432
82,251	4.74%	3.58%		9.37%	6.60%
	2/13/2007	CURRENT		2/13/2007	CURRENT
MARION PCTS	11:00	11:00		3:00	3:00
MR 1-1- LIBRARY	45	41		102	87
MR 1-2-HOME SCH	62	73		142	129
MR 1-3-KTOS	46	32		74	56
MR 2-1-1st BAPTIST	82	73		194	166
MR 2-2-WILKINS	141	108		251	195
MR 2-3-SQ CRK BAP	102	101		180	192
MR 3-1-FR MARION	72	97		154	168
MR 3-2-MR ADMIN	96	92		158	150
MR 3-3- FIRE ST 2	28	36		55	53
MR 4-1-CHRISTIAN CH	150	105		261	203
MR 4-2-FAITH LUTH	116	93		214	140
MR 4-3-CHRIST COMM	72	47		153	90
MR TOTAL	1012	898		1938	1629
21,668	4.66%	4.14%		8.93%	7.52%
BERTRAM- METH CH	120	89		201	179
BOULDER-ST JOES	26	32		54	61
BROWN-SV LIBRARY	76	83		168	160
BUFFALO-BOY SCOUT	14	34		43	57
CENTRAL CITY-	52	81		108	160
CLINTON-	44	41		78	65
COLLEGE-PRAIRIE	46	34		79	66
FAIRFAX-LIBRARY	112	113		223	189
FAYETTE-COMM CTR	32	27		73	53
GRANT-FIRE STATION	61	50		106	85
HW 1-COMM CTR	79	55		156	90
HW 2-HOPE CHR	127	96		244	168
JACKSON-Coggon sch	60	84		120	124
LINN-SV CITY HALL	17	28		48	50
LINN-MAR-KNIGHTS	99	148		217	250
LISBON-CITY HALL	100	85		204	143
MAINE-CIVIC CTR	25	42		50	63
MONROE 1-BLR RDG	105	82		192	163
MONROE 2-Chr/Christ	76	75		155	136
MVN- CITY HALL	85	43		162	84
MVS- ST JOHN	87	52		184	99
OTTER CREEK-FIRE	80	50		161	189
PUTNAM-LIBRARY	66	49		138	97
ROBINS-COMM CTR	120	63		235	139
SPRING GRV-NL HIGH	22	30		43	49
SQUAW CRK-GRACE	36	33		75	73
WASHINGTON-CP CH	121	105		277	183
TOTAL	1888	1704		3794	3175
33,454	5.60%	5.09%		11.26%	9.49%
	2/13/2007	Current		2/13/2007	Current
GRAND TOTAL	6901	5545		13640	10236
137,373	4.94%	4.04%		9.76%	7.45%
SILO 2007
Total voters
Total Registered
Turnout 2/13/2007

 

11am voter turnout statistics (corrected)

This table compares today's voter turnout as of 11am with the voter turnout for the special election held on 2/13/07 (SILO and Auditor election).  When you add the turnout in the City of Marion (898) with the non-CR precincts (1673), you arrive at 2571.  The total for the CR precincts equals 2857.  I'm not suggesting there's any correlation between the groups, I'm just pointing out the CR vs non-CR voter turnout is within 286 votes.  --Joel @ 11:48am

Correction:  Thanks goes to Eric Page @ KGAN for advising me the 11am Grand Total for 2/13/2007 was incorrect.  Thanks Eric!  The total should have been 6901 versus 3901.  I've updated the table and reposted.  --Joel @ 1:20pm

	2/13/07	CURRENT		2/13/07	CURRENT
CR PCTS	11:00	11:00		3:00	3:00
01-GWAEA	31	38		61
02-FOUR OAKS	46	33		87
03-HOPE LUTH	88	74		173
04-CZECH MUSEUM	55	41		98
05-1ST LUTHERAN	3	2		13
06-PUBLIC LIBRARY	18	18		43
07-COUNTY AOB	49	25		95
08-NEW CREATION	48	26		97
09-VAN BUREN	105	77		193
10-MOOSE LODGE	97	61		173
11-CLEVELAND	99	98		230
12-COOLIDGE	195	93		340
13-GLORIA DEI	83	61		169
14-TRUMAN	97	65		182
15-HOOVER	71	64		161
16-MADISON	95	61		199
17-TAFT	107	60		192
18-ST JAMES	104	60		196
19-TIME CHK	56	49		107
20-HARRISON	78	80		158
21- DAY CARE	61	40		126
22- TAYLOR	50	40		95
23-OAKLAND CHUR	204	126		415
24- PIERCE	151	100		305
25-WRIGHT	105	83		227
26-ARTHUR	103	87		192
27-HARDING	76	65		193
28-KTOS	59	55		114
29-PEACE CH	83	68		147
30-KING OF KINGS	144	89		264
31NOELRIDGE CHR	141	81		278
32-NIXON	57	46		127
33-NEW COVENANT	75	38		151
34-OPTIONS OF LC	40	27		62
35-JOHNSON	58	34		90
36-POLK	32	27		58
37-ISAAC NEWTON	43	26		97
38-FAITH UNITED CH	52	44		95
39-FRANKLIN	72	60		174
40-WASHINGTON HS	99	84		189
41-BETHANY	170	100		345
42-GRANT WOOD EL	109	60		225
43-ST STEPHEN'S	100	81		197
44-MONROE SCH	91	78		194
45-ERSKINE SCH	167	143		313
46-COMM OF CHRIST	74	58		143
47-GIBSON SCH	60	31		125
CR TOTAL	4001	2857		7908	0
82,251	4.74%	3.47%		9.37%	0.00%
	2/13/07	CURRENT		2/13/07	CURRENT
MARION PCTS	11:00	11:00		3:00	3:00
MR 1-1- LIBRARY	45	41		102
MR 1-2-HOME SCH	62	73		142
MR 1-3-KTOS	46	32		74
MR 2-1-1st BAPTIST	82	73		194
MR 2-2-WILKINS	141	108		251
MR 2-3-SQ CRK BAP	102	101		180
MR 3-1-FR MARION	72	97		154
MR 3-2-MR ADMIN	96	92		158
MR 3-3- FIRE ST 2	28	36		55
MR 4-1-CHRISTIAN CH	150	105		261
MR 4-2-FAITH LUTH	116	93		214
MR 4-3-CHRIST COMM	72	47		153
MR TOTAL	1012	898		1938	0
21,668	4.66%	4.14%		8.93%	0.00%
BERTRAM- METH CH	120	89		201
BOULDER-ST JOES	26	32		54
BROWN-SV LIBRARY	76	83		168
BUFFALO-BOY SCOUT	14	34		43
CENTRAL CITY-	52	50		108
CLINTON-	44	41		78
COLLEGE-PRAIRIE	46	34		79
FAIRFAX-LIBRARY	112	113		223
FAYETTE-COMM CTR	32	27		73
GRANT-FIRE STATION	61	50		106
HW 1-COMM CTR	79	55		156
HW 2-HOPE CHR	127	96		244
JACKSON-Coggon sch	60	84		120
LINN-SV CITY HALL	17	28		48
LINN-MAR-KNIGHTS	99	148		217
LISBON-CITY HALL	100	85		204
MAINE-CIVIC CTR	25	42		50
MONROE 1-BLR RDG	105	82		192
MONROE 2-Chr/Christ	76	75		155
MVN- CITY HALL	85	43		162
MVS- ST JOHN	87	52		184
OTTER CREEK-FIRE	80	50		161
PUTNAM-LIBRARY	66	49		138
ROBINS-COMM CTR	120	63		235
SPRING GRV-NL HIGH	22	30		43
SQUAW CRK-GRACE	36	33		75
WASHINGTON-CP CH	121	105		277
TOTAL	1888	1673		3794	0
33,454	5.60%	5.00%		11.26%	0.00%
	2/13/2007	Current		2/13/2007	Current
GRAND TOTAL	6901	5428		13640	0
137,373	4.94%	3.95%		9.76%	0.00%
SILO 2007
Total voters	29,800
Total Registered	139,739
Turnout 2/13/07	21.33%

Calm in the office

Arrived in the office about 7:55am.  Checked in with Sue Wold, Deputy Commission of Elections.  She reported that all of the polls opened at 7am as required.  Several of the office staff did (or were doing) the same routine I had been doing, i.e., visiting polling places on the way into the office.  Those in the office were taking calls from precinct officials (or making calls to them) to confirm the machines were operating - the workers showed up - the buildings were open.  Returned a call to a voter who wanted some clarification on the Plans before he went to vote.  Good for him!  He took the time to ask questions before he voted.  Had a phone interview with Jeff Tecklenburg of the Gazette.  Everyone in the office is calm.  Looks like a "normal" day.  It's 9:50am - I'm leaving to visit some more polling places.  --Joel

A photo album of my polling place visits before noon

I visited 8 polling places before lunch.  I found enthusiastic precinct election officials ready and waiting to serve you and other voters.

Check out the photo album here

Making the rounds on election day

I arrived at the Robins precinct at 5:55am. The chairperson and her husband (a volunteer) were already in City Hall setting up. Drove over to Pierce Elementary School (CR-24) to deliver the absentee voters list, i.e., those voters who voted absentee since we printed the voter roster. All the workers were busy setting up. They had the doors open, which probably meant the air conditioning (if the school had it) was turned off. The high today is suppose to be 83F. Some of the polling places are going to be warm this afternoon. Next stop was Oakland Church of the Nazarene (CR-23). Provided the chair with the absentee voters list. Watched them setup the touch screen machine and confirm the tape was zeroed out before the election started. Picked up some donuts at HyVee. Afterall, I had all of the office staff report to work at 6am - someone is probably hungry. I'll be ready for a donut when I get to the office. Wrote this blog entry while sitting in my car in HyVee's parking lot. --Joel @ 7:02am