The Marshall County Auditor’s office is hoping for higher voter turnout for the joint city and school board Nov. 4 election.

Auditor Nan Benson said city and school district election voter turnouts are lower than they should be.

“In 2023, we had 20 percent of the registered voters, which is really good,” she said.

However, Benson estimated that 20 percent was roughly 5,000 voters, and she hopes people will think about the impact of those elections.

“Think of how much of your taxes go to the city and the school district,” she said. “If you live in a city, they take a big portion of your taxes.”

One year, less than 10 percent of voters cast ballots in the city/school election.

“It’s really sad,” Benson said.

According to Assistant Auditor Jessie Chizek said the county office does more work for the joint elections than the generals. That is because each city and school district is different, with different issues on the ballots.

Getting residents to run for office is also important. Chizek urged candidates to take the leap, and hopes she does not see any write-ins on the ballot.

“Stop by the office and we can go through the paperwork,” she said. “We need candidates on the ballot.”

Chizek said people who are interested in running for election city positions can circulate petitions. In fact, there is no set time period in which those petitions must be circulated and required signatures gathered.

“They could have picked up a petition in January,” Benson said.

The dates potential candidates should keep in mind is Aug. 25 to Sept. 18, which is when the petitions need to be turned in at the county auditor’s office. However, candidates for school board seats need to turn the petitions in to the board secretary.

Twelve cities, including Marshalltown, will host elections in the county. Marshalltown candidates need to obtain a minimum of 75 signatures on their petitions. That requirement is for ward, at-large and mayoral candidates. Chizek said the people running for Ward 1 or Ward 3 need to take more care with signatures, as the only ones which will be valid are residents who live within the wards. The at-large and mayoral candidates are not restricted by ward boundaries, and can gather signatures throughout the entire town.

“In other cities, candidates need to get 10 signatures,” Chizek said. “[The number of] signatures is driven by the population.”

She said interested people can pick up petitions at the auditor’s office, city hall or the Iowa Secretary of State website. Chizek said they can also email the petitions to people.

CITIES WITH ELECTIONS:

The Marshall County cities with council positions up for election are:

Marshalltown’s election will cover two at-large seats and one each for the mayor, Ward 1 and Ward 3;

Albion and State Center — both towns have three at-large and the mayor;

Clemons, Ferguson and Saint Anthony — each town has five at-large and the mayor;

LeGrand, Liscomb and Melbourne — each town has two at-large and the mayor;

Gilman — two at-large and another at-large to fill a vacancy and;

Haverhill and Rhodes — both towns have two at-large.

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.