Tuesday’s city and school elections showed local discrepancies in voter participation even as Polk and Dallas counties had higher turnouts than in Iowa overall on Nov. 4.
Polk County saw 24.9% of registered voters head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 4, according to unofficial results from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office. In Dallas County, turnout was 19.8% and in Warren County, it was 14.7%.
Iowa’s statewide turnout on Tuesday was 16.6%, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald said Tuesday the bond issue in Des Moines Public Schools, in particular, appeared to be driving people to the polls, as well as other issues and races in the county.
Almost 74% of voters cast ballots in favor of the bond, far surpassing the 60% approval it needed to pass — despite the scandal and revelations about former Superintendent Ian Roberts following his Sept. 26 immigration arrest.
The yes vote means DMPS can move forward with its Reimagining Education plan that over the next five years will implement improvements such as signature schools, enhanced STEM and career and technical education opportunities, and improved athletics and arts facilities.
Alisa Sykes said at her voting precinct Tuesday she hoped to see the bond pass because it supports students and the greater community.
“Education is so important,” Sykes said. “I still believe in the Des Moines Public Schools because people should still be able to have the opportunity.”
Tia B., who voted in the Sherman Hill neighborhood of Des Moines, said education and the school district’s bond issue also was a top priority for her.
“I’m just thinking about some of the (DMPS) schools that will close. One of those, Walnut Street (Elementary School), that’s where my daughter goes to school,” she said. “My daughter is a part of this school district, so these issues matter to me; everything that impacts this city does.”
Fitzgerald added on Wednesday that candidates door knocking in races across the county, such as for Ward 1 on the Des Moines City Council, also drove turnout.
“More contact with the voter will always increase turnout,” he said.
And he said it was a smooth election, even with slightly higher turnout than the 24% his office had expected.
Only Warren County reported any problems at the polls. Some Warren County ballots included erroneous instructions for selecting Des Moines School Board candidates, the auditor’s office confirmed.
Warren County Auditor Kimberly Sheets said some ballots were distributed instructing voters to select one candidate when there should have been the option to select two candidates for the open at-large seats.
Ashley Esquivel Hunt, a spokesperson for the Secretary of State, said their office had advised Warren County officials to continue distributing the ballot despite the error.
Warren County would tally up the top two candidates for that race and report those two candidates as winners, though any candidates who feel they’ve been negatively affected could contest the results after the election, Esquivel Hunt said.
She said Wednesday that no other counties in the state reported issues.
Polk, Dallas counties show opposite trends on growth, engagement
Tuesday’s results showed the number of registered voters in Polk County has been shrinking but a greater share voted. In Dallas County, a smaller percentage of a rapidly increasing number of registered voters participated.
Voter turnout in city-school elections in 2021 in Polk County was 21%, according to the Polk County Auditor’s office. Turnout was 24.2% in 2023 and 24.9% on Tuesday, according to the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.
Despite increasing turnout, the number of registered voters in the county decreased Tuesday to 326,466. That’s down from 327,817 in 2021 and down even more from 329,486 in 2023.
Dallas County had the lowest turnout Tuesday of the past three city and school elections, according to the Iowa Secretary of State. Turnout was 22.9% in 2021, 20.9% in 2023 and 19.8% on Tuesday.
But voters cast more ballots in Dallas County on Tuesday than in 2023, despite the lower turnout — 15,445 compared to 15,410 two years ago.
More ballots cast despite declining participation is a sign of Dallas County’s rapid growth, where the number of registered voters has increased by almost 8,400 since November 2021 to more than 78,000 on Tuesday, including more than 4,100 new voters registered in the past two years.
Warren County turnout, voter registration trends
Warren County showed a similar trend as Dallas County — more people are registered to vote than in the past but fewer of them are participating.
Turnout of 14.7% in Warren County was down from 16.5% in 2023, according to results from the county and Secretary of State.
Almost 500 fewer ballots were cast in Warren County on Tuesday than two years ago, but there are more people who are registered to vote — 40,833 for Tuesday’s election, compared to 39,455 in 2023.
Des Moines Register reporters Samantha Hernandez, Tyler Jett, Kate Kealey, Brianne Pfannenstiel and Lee Rood contributed to this report.
Phillip Sitter covers the suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at psitter@gannett.com. Find out more about him online in the Register’s staff directory.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines Public Schools bond helped drive higher than expected turnout in Polk County
Reporting by Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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