Iowa mail-in voting: What to know

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What is the difference between mail-in voting and absentee voting?

David Spunt takes a look at the differences between mail-in voting and absentee voting

As the United States draws nearer to a presidential election in the midst of a deadly pandemic, many states are accommodating voters to minimize in-person contact at the polls, including Iowa.

Any registered voter in Iowa may request to have an absentee ballot sent to them in the mail. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate said earlier this year that all voters would be mailed absentee ballot applications. Those who request must submit personal information including their name, date of birth, address, and voter verification number--either their Iowa driver's license number or the number on their Iowa voter ID card--the name or date of the election, and their signature.

IOWA PRE-FILLED ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATIONS ALLOWED BY JUDGE

The county auditor must have the request form no later than ten days before the election. The auditor will then send the ballot along with instructions for how to fill it out and send it back.

Absentee ballots will be counted if they are received by the county auditor's office by the time the polls close on Election Day, November 3. Ballots that have not arrived by then may still be counted up until noon the Monday after Election Day if they were postmarked no later than Monday, November 2.

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Voters who still have not submitted their ballots by Election Day may hand-deliver them to the county auditor's office, but not at polling sites. Alternatively, they can go to their polling site and either vote in person after turning in their absentee ballot to be discarded, or if they do not have the absentee ballot, they can fill out a provisional ballot which would be counted after it is verified that the voter has not also voted via absentee ballot.