Battlegrounders
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IOWA: LAST OF THE SWING STATES [Brian Kennedy 11/02 08:42 AM]

Don’t be surprised if you are sitting in front of the TV at midnight waiting for the networks to call Iowa. Polls close here at 9PM CST/10PM EST and in a typical election year it usually takes an hour or two to get enough votes counted to project a winner. In a close race it takes even longer. Iowa is among the last of the swing states to be voting. New Mexico and Nevada to our west will close their polls at the same time but Iowa has the most electoral votes at stake at that hour. To get a complete listing of when the polls close in various states check out the Electoral College Viewers Guide.

What time we finish counting votes here in Iowa will be impacted by several factors. First, nearly one-third of the electorate has already voted. Typically county auditors will spend Election Day tabulating early ballots so those votes are already counted when the polls close. Secondly, a larger Election Day turnout means more votes to count and that creates delays. Finally, there has been a back and forth between county auditors, the Secretary of State and Attorney General about how to treat registered voters who attempt to vote at the wrong precinct. While these voters may cast provisional ballots whether and how their votes are counted may ultimately be decided in the courts. If the results in Iowa are as close as they were four years ago when the race was decided by a mere 4,000 votes, then we may be waiting several days for the judges to cast the final vote.