42% of Votes Cast in Scott Co,. Were by Early Voters

I wrote last week about how absentee ballots gave Elesha Gayman (D-Davenport) victory in her race in House District 84.

Absentee ballots played a key role in many races in Scott Co. It also propelled Phyllis Thiede (D-Bettendorf) to upset incumbent Jamie Van Fossen in House District 81.

Early voters so dominated the election landscape in the Iowa Quad-Cities this year that political leaders on both sides say candidates and their parties are going to have to shift strategies.

For the most part, it’s the Republicans who will have to do the shifting. But even Democrats — who have driven early voting in the state since 2002 — were amazed at the turnout among early voters in the Quad-Cities this year.

Forty-two percent of voters cast early or absentee ballots, according to unofficial figures from the Scott County Auditor’s Office. That’s 37,000 out of 87,000 votes cast. Total turnout was 71.8 percent.

The previous high for absentees was 26,000 out of 83,000 votes cast, or 32 percent.

The Iowa Democratic Party is far better at getting people to vote early throughout the state thanks to their summer canvass program where they get people to sign absentee ballot request forms. Then the absentee ballots are mailed out to people before the election.