As the November 3rd election nears, the Winneshiek County Auditor's Office is prepared

Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines says his office has already handled more absentee ballots for this year's election than it did in 2016--and there are still more than two weeks of balloting left.  Later last week the office passed the 6,000 mark for absentee ballots and is still counting additional ballots.

The County Auditor's Office is working extra hours to help handle the flood of ballots.  It will be open from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 24th and October 31st.  It will also hold a satellite voting event at the Luther College Student Union from 10:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 21st.

If you're planning to cast an absentee ballot, the sooner you do that, the better.  You can drop off your ballot into the drop box in front of the Courthouse all the way until 9:00 p.m. Election Day, November 3rd, but, again, the sooner, the better.

Steines say he has had "many, many volunteers" step forward to be poll workers on November 3rd.  He's also working on plans for announcing the election results from Winneshiek County to the poll workers and others who normally gather at the Courthouse after the polls have closed and the ballots begin to be counted.