School elections move to November; city, school filings open now

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

People who are used to voting for school board members in September will find a change this year, as school board elections will now be held in November, on the general election day along with city elections.

Filing to run for city and school district elections opens today and runs through Sept. 19.

The Iowa Legislature changed the school election date effective this year partly because of the typically low turnout, said Floyd County Auditor Gloria Carr, who as part of her job is also commissioner of elections.

Turnout has historically been low in school and city elections.

For example, recent school board elections in Floyd County have had voter turnouts of 3.4% in 2017; 29.2% in 2015, 29.6% in 2013 and 14.2%in 2011. The 2013 and 2015 school election turnouts were higher than usual because of several hotly contested races and the middle school issue being debated.

Recent Floyd County city election turnouts have been 22.6% in 2017, 10.0% in 2015, 24.3% in 2013 and 21.8% in 2011, according to figures from the Floyd County Auditor’s Office.

Other changes in election law going into effect this fall will affect where people vote.

People will now vote in their county of residence instead of the county that controls their school district, Carr said.

For example, there are six school districts in Floyd County, but only the Charles City district and the RRMR district are “controlled” by Floyd County.

There are also Floyd County residents who belong to the Central Springs, Osage, North Butler and Nashua-Plainfield school districts, which are controlled, respectively, by Worth, Mitchell, Butler and Chickasaw counties.
Previously, those people would vote at polling places in the controlling county. Now, all Floyd County voters will vote in Floyd County.

Also, some Chickasaw County residents who are members of the Charles City School District and who used to have to come to Charles City to vote will now vote in Chickasaw County, and some RRMR residents who live in Cerro Gordo County and Mitchell counties will now vote in those counties.

The various changes “will affect probably one-half to two-third of our voters,” Carr estimated.

Also, she said, all Floyd County voters will now vote at the same polling place as they vote for a gubernatorial or presidential elections, and all polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“We will be sending notices out in September and October to to affected voters,” Carr said.

One of the goals of the change was to reduce costs by having one election day instead of two in odd-numbered years, but it will make things more complicated for county auditor’s offices, especially with the many different ballot forms that will be required.

The costs of city and school elections are typically charged to the cities and school districts, but with them sharing a ballot that will make costs more difficult to allocate.

For example, Carr said, everyone in the county is a member of a school district, but only the people who live in cities vote in the city elections.

Complicating things even more this year is the likelihood of a vote on whether the Floyd County Medical Center will change its organizational structure to allow the hospital board to levy property taxes.

“This won’t be just a city and school election because of the hospital public measure,” Carr said. “So the county will need to absorb a portion of the cost as well. This adds a unique layer to an already convoluted cost analysis.”

Here are the seats that are open in this year’s Nov. 5 election:

• Charles City – Council (3 seats): Keith Starr, Michael Hammond and Dan Mallaro.
• Charles City School District – (2 seats): Jason Walker and Robin Macomber.
• Colwell – Mayor: Jeff Wright; council (5 seats): Judy Budwig, Mark Kirsch, Jennifer Cross, Ryan Wegner and Rachel Krause.
• Floyd – Mayor: Trevis O’Connell; council (3 seats): Cleone King, Merlin Holtz and Mike Miller.
• Marble Rock – Mayor: Jerry Engelhardt; council (2 seats): John Marzen and Chad Schriever.
• Nora Springs – Mayor: Randy Hassman; council (3 seats): Duane O’Banion, Steve Blickenderfer and Brian Pederson.
• Rockford – Mayor: Scott Johnson; council (2 seats): Alvin Marth and Corey Johnson.
• Rudd – Mayor: Donna Lunsford; council (3 seats): Jeff Buland, Jason Gemaehlich and John Wood.
• Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock School District – (3 seats): Angie Johnson, Janette Lien and Heidi Marzen.

People who would like to run for a city or school board office must file nomination papers between today (Aug. 26) and Sept. 19. For city elections, papers must be filed in the county auditor’s office. For school board election, papers must be filed with the school secretary.

Absentee voting in the election will begin on Oct. 7.