Franklin County sees record voter response in Nov. 3 election

Franklin County voters took to the mail and polls in record numbers in the Tuesday, Nov. 3 General Election.

Michelle Giddings, Franklin County Auditor, said voter turnout for the 2020 election hit 77.43 percent of registered voters in Franklin County, eclipsing the 2016 mark of 70.12 percent.

“That’s the most I’ve ever had in the years I’ve been here,” Giddings said. “In the 32 years I’ve been at the auditor’s office, it’s never been higher.”

Giddings said that number included 2,646 absentee ballots, compared to 1,777 in 2016.

While the lead up to the election focused heavily on early voting and mail-in ballots, Giddings said Election Day still required an immense amount of planning and coordination. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the State of Iowa allowed counties to reduce polling places by up to 35 percent. Giddings said this meant Franklin County had 8 polling places, as opposed to the normal 12 precincts spread through 11 locations.

Despite the reduction of polling places, Giddings said that more workers were needed compared to previous years and locating those volunteers proved to be difficult amid concerns related to COVID-19.

“The challenging part of the election was finding poll workers,” she said. “I had many of my seasoned workers bow out…and I respected that decision of theirs.

“But of course, we had to look for more workers, which were new workers that had never worked at the polls, plus we had to find more reserves that could be on standby because you never knew who was going to call and say they had been exposed to the virus or had it,” she added.

Along with additional workers, Giddings the election also required the new step of obtaining Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for workers and voters, as well as staging polling places with additional social distancing and safety measures.

“They (election workers) were going overboard with the expectations needed for an election worker,” she said. “I commend them totally.”

Given all the new changes required to successfully execute a Presidential election, Giddings said she felt voters, volunteers and Auditor’s office staff adjust as well as possible.

“Everybody stepped up and did the job they were asked to do and I think we had a good turn out,” she said. “We came through in flying colors in Franklin County and the State of Iowa as a whole.”