Polls have opened for the primary election in Iowa, giving voters 14 hours to cast ballots for local, state and national races. Voting began at 7 a.m. Tuesday and is scheduled to end at 9 p.m. Iowa has one of the longest hours for election day voting in the country. Data show more than 40,000 voters have cast ballots during early voting that began May 7.

A new voter ID law in Iowa will see its first statewide soft rollout during the primary. Iowans will be asked to show approved identification before voting. Anyone without an ID will have the option to sign an oath verifying their identity to cast a regular ballot.

Key statewide contests include the Democratic primary for governor and several congressional races. Republicans have several choices for the secretary of agriculture race, and there’s a two-way race for Democrats in the primary for secretary of state.

The Creston Police Department reports one arrest and a theft. Authorities say Shari Lowe, of Creston, was arrested Monday morning at the Union County Law Enforcement Center, on a Cass County warrant for Violation of Probation on an original, Possession of a Controlled Substance, charge. Lowe was released to the custody of Cass County Deputies. And, a woman reported Monday evening, that someone had stolen her Snapper self-propelled lawn mower. The machine, valued at $350, was taken sometime between 5-p.m. June 3rd to 8-p.m. June 4th, from the 300 block of N. Oak Street.

(7-a.m. News)

Red Oak Police say only minor injuries were reported following an accident that happened at around 3:15-p.m., Monday. Authorities say a collision between a 2005 Chrysler Pacifica driven by 53-year old Marni Jo Coleman, of Shenandoah, and a 2008 Dodge Avenger driven by 47-year old Sheri Lanae Faga, of Red Oak, happened near the intersection of Highway’s 34 and 48. Police say Coleman was not paying attention when her van rear-ended the car at a red light, where Faga was at a complete stop. Sheri Faga suffered from suspected/minor injuries, and said she would drive herself to the hospital. Damage from the collision amounted to $6,000. Police cited Coleman for Following too close.

ANKENY, Iowa (AP) — Authorities have found the bodies of two people inside a home in an Ankeny mobile home community. Officers sent to check on the welfare of the two found the bodies Monday morning at the Autumn Ridge community. Ankeny Police Lt. Brian Huggins says the two had been dead for “an extended period of time.” It’s not yet clear whether a crime was involved in the deaths. Autopsies were scheduled. The names of the two have not been released.

Red Oak Police report two people were arrested and a juvenile was cited into court early this (Tuesday) morning. Officers responded to the 200 block of E. Oak Street in Red Oak at around 11:35-p.m. Monday, for a noise complaint. After further investigation, a 17-year old was cited into juvenile court, for possession of a controlled substance/marijuana, and later released to a parent. 18-year old Devinne Janice Moore, of Red Oak, was cited at around 12:15-a.m., for Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, and released at the scene. And, 42-year old Tara Lynn Sullivan, of Council Bluffs, was arrested at around 12:15 also, on an out-of-state warrant for being a Fugitive from Justice. Sullivan was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail.

Monday evening, Red Oak Police were called to the area of N. 4th Street and E. Maple Street, for a possible domestic dispute. Following an investigation, 27-year old Shelby Mae Schmitz-Cantrell, of Red Oak, was arrested at around 9:35-p.m., for Domestic Abuse Assault. She was being held without bond in the Montgomery County Jail. Red Oak Police were assisted at the scene by Montgomery County Sheriff’s Deputies.

It’s Primary Day in Iowa. The polls open at seven o’clock. Iowa’s new voter verification law is still in what Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate calls the “soft roll out” phase, but Pate says voters at nearly two-thousand precincts around the state will be asked to show a form of state-sanctioned identification. “A driver’s license or a voter ID card with their PIN number on it or a non-operator’s license that they get from a driver’s (license) station or a military ID,” Pate says. “Any of those would work, including a passport.”

Voters who do NOT bring any of those approved forms of I-D with them will be able to sign a document, declaring they are who they say they are and their ballots will be counted. Starting in January of 2019, though, Iowa voters who do not have an I-D at their polling place will cast a “provisional” ballot and will be required to follow up with a visit to their county auditor’s office to show an I-D so their ballot may be counted.

Ninety-two of Iowa’s 99 counties will be able to scan the digital strip on a driver’s license or voter I-D to check in voters today (Tuesday). However in Polk, Linn and five other counties, poll workers will have to manually find a number on the I-D and check the voter registration rolls to see if it’s an eligible voter. “They have not updated their technology,” Pate says.

Pate isn’t expecting voters to have to wait long to cast their ballots today (Tuesday).  “It’s a lot faster than the old school where you used to have the lists in front of you and you’d have to go through pages and pages and look for your name on it and make sure it’s the right John Smith or Paul Pate,” Pate says. “So if there’s a line, I would say it’s just because of higher voter turn-out and I would say if I were an auditor, I would anticipate higher volume in your predominantly Democratic precincts.”

That’s because Democrats have a statewide race for governor in their Primary. There’s already been a record-setting number of requests for absentee ballots from those who voted early. Those absentee ballots had to be postmarked by yesterday (Monday) to be counted today (Tuesday). Pate says county auditors start counting absentee ballots at any time today.  “And when the poll workers do it, it’s just like the other polls. There’s a Democrat and a Republican poll worker, working together,” Pate says. “That way it’s a checked process.”

The first votes to be reported this evening AFTER the polls close are likely the tally of those absentee or “early” votes from each precinct. There are THREE party primaries today (Tuesday) — one for Democrats, one for Republicans and one for Libertarians. Libertarians reached “official party status” in 2016 when their presidential candidate got at least two percent of the vote in Iowa. There are a dozen Libertarians running for office and two Libertarians are running for governor. Pate says, for Libertarians, today’s (Tuesday’s) Primary is “the starting block” for the party.

“There’s an unknown quantity in the sense that we haven’t had a third party in a some time. They have a message they’re trying to offer voters as a reason to vote for them,” Pate says. “The real test will come in the fall.”

To retain “official party status” — the nominee Libertarians pick to run for governor on the November ballot must get at least two percent of the vote. As of June 1st, 10-thousand Iowans had registered as Libertarian voters.

(Radio Iowa)