DES MOINES, Iowa — The Iowa primary elections are on Tuesday, June 7. This year, there are some changes in place due to election laws passed by the state legislature.
In addition to those changes, redistricting is impacting where voters will cast their votes.
"We're seeing a perfect storm," said Polk County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Jamie Fitzgerald. "We've had redistricting that went late because of COVID-19. So a lot of people are just now getting notifications of where they vote. So your voting location probably has changed."
Election offices sent out mailers to Iowans to alert them of this changed location. If you're unsure of what your polling location in Iowa is, click here.
Another big change for voters to consider, absentee ballots must be into their election office by the time polls close on election day.
"Your ballot now has to be received by the close of the polls," said Fitzgerald. "In the past, it used to be postmark the Monday before or the intelligent mail bar scan."
New this year, the Polk County Election Office has a 24-hour ballot drop box where voters can securely drop off their absentee ballot.
Iowa's primary is a closed one, meaning voters will need to declare a party to receive the respective ballot. But Fitzgerald says voters need not worry if that's not the party they want to remain registered to.
"So a lot of people like to vote in every election, they'd like to pick who their nominees are going to be," said Fitzgerald. "So we've had over 400 people in Polk County switch parties. Now you can do that on election day as well. Places like Illinois, you just go in and tell them what kind of ballot you want and it doesn't switch your party. But in Iowa, it switches your party, and you'll be sent a letter by your county auditor saying we received your request, you're now a registered Democrat, or you're a registered Republican. Some people don't like that, but that's just how the code set up."
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day.