Three of the 29 voters whose ballots have not yet been counted are coming forth to tell their stories

Decorah resident Domique Bockman says the absentee ballot she cast in the November 6th election was one of the 29 ballots which has not been counted yet in the Iowa House District 55 election.

Bockman has written a Letter to the Editor (which can be read in full in a separate posting) which says "I was a disenfranchised voter, but I did everything right. Through no fault of my own, I was failed by a failure prone system, which was identified and has been discussed since at least 2011."

Bockman admits the experience has her wondering whether it's a good decision to cast an absentee ballot: "I am disheartened by how my ballot was handled.  I have been discouraged from voting that way again. This concerns me on behalf of so many citizens who may not have the opportunity to vote at the polls. They may be homebound, busy working, or otherwise unable to make it to the polls on Election Day. Because of my experience, I would highly encourage those who have the capacity to travel to a voting place to do so, either on election day or by absentee ballot in person at a county auditor's office during the 29 days prior to an election, as stated by law. I would also encourage those who need to vote by absentee ballot by mail to do so at least 1-2 weeks before the election so the ballot can assuredly be received at the county auditor's office before the election deadline."

But Bockman thinks Iowa's laws about the process of determining the timeliness of absentee ballots must be updated by the Iowa Legislature.  "That some counties use an IMb to track a ballot and others use only a postmark, while relying on the inconsistent handling of the envelopes by our US Postal System, is causing a great deal of confusion and numerous interpretations of the law by county auditors across the whole state of Iowa. There must be a foolproof method established for county auditors to implement in order to determine the timeliness of absentee ballots which are received near the election deadline," she says.

Polk County Judge Scott Beattie is expected to issue a court ruling shortly after holding a hearing Thursday afternoon in Des Moines on whether the 29 ballots should be included in the vote total.

Meanwhile, Lowell and Laura Staake of Frankville, two others whose absentee ballots have not yet been counted, have also come forward.  "It's just not fair," said Lowell, "You bend over backwards to do the right thing. Then when it's proven that we did, they still don't want to count our vote. It's obvious that our ballots should be counted. The margin is so small, we won't really know who won without including all the legally cast votes," he said.