The last day of the election season has finally arrived. Marshall County residents who have not submitted early votes for today’s general presidential election have until 8 p.m.

Auditor/Recorder Nan Benson said if residents have not submitted their ballots by the 8 p.m. deadline, but are in line at a polling location, their vote will still count.

“The people will get a ticket, but only if they are in the line at that time,” she said. “They will get to vote, even if that means there are 20 people in line and some are checked in at 8:10 p.m.”

Benson is not too worried about the arrival of voters later in the day. In previous elections, she said some polling locations did not have any voters during the last 45 minutes the polls were open. However, the polling locations were open until 9 p.m. for the 2020 presidential election. The Iowa Legislature decided to close the polls one hour earlier now, she said.

With the election being very divisive, some places in the country are preparing for possible unrest amidst growing amounts of online chatter calling for violence. Fortunately, Benson is not expecting such behavior in Marshall County. However, they have plans in place if something happens, she said, or if a polling location is suddenly unusable.

“I think a pipe bursting at a poll is more likely, and we are also ready for that,” Benson said. “I hope in Iowa we have more common sense in place. I know in Marshall County, we do what we are supposed to do.”

Early voting ended at 4:30 p.m. yesterday, and Benson said 8,731 Marshall County residents submitted their ballots. In the 2020 presidential election, 11,498 early ballots were submitted.

The process of running the early ballots through the election machine after 8 p.m. began yesterday.

“We’re getting the preliminary stuff done,” Benson said. “There’s a lot of preliminary work before they can be run through the machine.”

The goal is to get the election results to the public as quickly as possible, but she added it might take a little longer if there is a line of voters at 8 p.m.

“We have four teams ready to bring results back so we can upload everything,” Benson said. “As soon as the results are in, they will be uploaded, which is usually quick. The results may be earlier than 2020.”

Marshall County residents will be able to see the election results by visiting the Iowa Secretary of State website. The link will be provided on the Marshall County elections home page, elections.marshallcountyia.gov.

VOTING LOCATIONS:

Marshall County is divided into 15 precincts. To vote, a person must go to the polling location of his or her precinct of residence:

Marshalltown

Ward 1: Marshalltown Public Library, 105 W Boone St.

Ward 2: Iowa Veterans Home Malloy Hall LRC, 1301 Summit St.

Ward 3: Our Savior Lutheran Church, 3001 S Sixth St.

Ward 4: Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1600 S Center St.

Jefferson and Timber Creek precincts

Iowa Valley Community College District Admin Building, 3702 S Center St.

Liberty/Marietta/Minerva precincts

Orphan Grain Train, 302 Bevins St.

Marion/Vienna precincts

Green Mountain Community Park Building, 111 Woolston St.

Green Castle/Le Grand precincts

Le Grand Community Center, 206 N Vine St.

Bangor/Liscomb/Taylor precincts

Liscomb Community Building, 114 Main St.

Eden/Logan/Washington precincts

Melbourne Rec Center, 613 Main St.

State Center precinct

State Center City Hall, 118 E Main St.

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.