Early voting for the primary election began the morning of April 28th.
If you have already made up your mind on all the candidates you plan to support, you can support them more by voting at the auditor’s office. Candidates can then reallocate their limited resources to focus on the voters left to cast ballots.
Also, if you vote early you will fall off the solicitation lists and avoid phone calls and endless mail targeting your support.
If you are a registered Republican I believe that a lot of mail will be coming as Rick Bertrand challenges Steve King for Congress.
Peter Bardole, a farmer and Jefferson resident, is challenging longtime supervisor Guy Richardson.
Greene County sheriff deputies Kirk Hammer and Jack Williams face each other for county sheriff.
If you are a Democrat you can weigh in on who should lose to Senator Chuck Grassley in November. Patty Judge is the DC favorite, yielding a bunch of signatures at the county conventions. I was at the Secretary of State’s office when a staff member for the Democratic campaign firm that sunk Braley’s bid two years ago brought in the petitions. I was surprised that she didn’t even show up for a free publicity photo with Secretary of State Paul Pate; it surely would have been featured on all the local news broadcasts.
She is clearly phoning in her effort. She raised a lot of money from outside the state after three candidates spent months rallying support for the nomination. Robb Hogg is a progressive darling and state senator from Cedar Rapids. Bob Krause is a former military officer and state legislator. I don’t know anything about Tom Fiegen.
A couple of Democrats are facing off to challenge Chip Baltimore. That’s also a losing battle. Chip chairs the judiciary committee. He is a prolific fundraiser and has great relationships with public policy stakeholders.
Absentee ballots can be requested from the County Auditor. Forms are available at
You can save the county the postage by voting in person at the auditor’s office. If you are a Democrat your best course of action is to go green, save the paper and stay home.
–John Thompson of Jefferson
