Election officials like Kevin Hall in the Iowa Secretary of State’s office are unsure how many Iowans will participate in today’s (Tuesday’s) Democratic and Republican Primary Elections. “Turn-out is really hard to gauge at this point,” Hall says. “Of course, people are very interested in the political races this year, but it’s not the Caucuses this time. It’s primaries.”

Voters in five OTHER states will be holding PRESIDENTIAL primaries today (Tuesday). The only STATEWIDE race here is among four Iowa Democrats seeking their party’s nomination for the U.S. Senate. There also are primaries in three of the state’s congressional districts. You must be registered as a Democrat or registered as a Republican to vote today (Tuesday).

“But you can change your registration there at the polling location,” Hall says. “We have same-day voter registration, so if you’re not registered to vote, you can do that at your polling location. You do need to have some sort of photo ID and a proof of residence, like a utility bill.” Independent voters can participate, but they must register to vote as a Democrat or as a Republican in order to cast a ballot in one of the party primaries here.

There has been controversy in other states where the number of polling locations have been reduced, but in Iowa today (Tuesday), there is a voting location open in each Iowa precinct. “There are approximately 1700 precincts in Iowa and the great thing about Iowa is we have one of the longest early-voting periods. We have one of the longest polling hours in the entire nation,” Hall says. “Only New York State has longer polling hours.” The polls open at 7 a.m. and don’t close until 9 p.m. tonight (Tuesday).

If you don’t know your polling location, you can find a link to the Secretary of State’s ‘precinct locator’ on the web at https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/voterreg/pollingplace/search.aspx

(Radio Iowa)