DAVENPORT, Iowa — Election day is just two weeks away, and across the country, about 29 million votes are already in. More than half a million Iowan voters have cast their ballot.
Nearly 800,000 absentee ballot requests have been processed in the state - more than double as many requests Iowa say by this date in the 2016 election. Scott County makes up almost 50,000 of those ballots.
Iowa Secretary of State, Paul Pate, told News 8, "We've got a great track record. Iowans take voting very seriously, we're one of the top states in the country when it comes to voter participation."
He predicts the high turnout trend will continue throughout the runup to Election Day, and said, "Scott County will be one of those counties that will have a higher turnout, I'm sure."
Many polling sites have seen changes this election, so Secretary Pate asks that if you choose to vote on November 3, that you have a plan in place for where you'll go and what you'll need to bring with.
For early voters in Scott County, a fifth site has opened, just until Friday, at St. Ambrose University. The university says they didn't have an early voting option back in 2012, which led to extremely long lines on Election Day.
"Obviously with the pandemic going on, we don't want a lot of people in close proximity, we don't wanna have people standing outside incase the weather's bad, so yeah, trying to lesson those lines was whatever we could do," said Jason Richter, Director of Student Engagement.
"For us, early voting is essential because it gives our students really easy access to the voting process. For many of our students, this is the first presidential election they'll get to vote in; it's very exciting!"
You don't have to be a student or staff member to utilize the early voting site at St. Ambrose. But university staff say it's extremely convenient to students, who may have to vote at a different site come election day, due to their precincts.
"For us here at St. Ambrose, the election process has been ongoing since September," said Richter. "We've been trying to get students registered to vote and doing anything we can to make sure they get excited and understand their civic engagement. It's part of their responsibility to be part of a democracy and vote."
Scott County voters can also cast their ballots at the Auditor's Office, Bettendorf Community Center, Eldridge Library and the Fairmont and Eastern Avenue branches of Davenport's library.