The deadline to send a mailed absentee ballot request form is in less than a week for the November 2nd city and school election.

Among several voting changes passed by the Iowa Legislature this year, the deadline to receive absentee ballot request forms has been moved up from 11 to now 15 days before Election Day. Washington County Auditor Dan Widmer says voters who wish to receive a mailed absentee ballot should find a request form on the county’s or the Iowa Secretary of State’s websites, or call his office for a form, “So once you complete that absentee ballot request you need to get that to us as soon as possible, because the deadline for our office to receive those ballot requests is Monday, October 18th. So that is the deadline to get that absentee ballot request, if you want one mailed to you, a ballot that is.”

The auditor’s office will begin mailing out absentee ballots this Wednesday, which is also the first day the public can vote via absentee at the Washington County Courthouse. The period for absentee ballots has also been shortened from 29 to now 20 days before Election Day. Mailed absentee ballots must also be received by the time polls close at 8 p.m. in order to be counted, whereas before the new law ballots placed in the mail before Election Day could be counted as long as they arrived by noon the following Monday. You can hear more about voting deadlines for the November 2nd election by listening to a two-part Halcyon House Washington Page with Widmer on air and at kciiradio.com.