Nader Officially On Iowa Ballot
KWWL.com
Independent presidential candidate
Ralph Nader will officially appear on the November ballot, according to
Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver's office. Nader supporters turned
in 3,198 signatures to the Secretary of State's office yesterday.
That's more than twice the number necessary needed to appear on the
ballot. State law requires a minimum of 1,500 signatures. Nader
campaign coordinators say the signatures were obtained in 76 of Iowa's
99 counties over the last three to four weeks. They also say they got
the signatures without help from Republicans.
Signature gatherers approached
attendees at a Republican rally in Clive and asked for their support
because it would help Bush's campaign.
Source
The Importance Of Iowa This Election Year
Keloland.com
George Bush spent the day campaigning in Sioux City, Iowa. It's his
third campaign trip to Iowa in four weeks. Bush's stop comes just a
couple of weeks after his presidential opponent, Democrat John Kerry
visited the state. So why is Iowa such a hot spot on the campaign
trail? Iowa is one of the 10 key battleground states in the 2004
election.
First John Kerry wowed the crowds in Sioux City, Iowa. Now George W. Bush is taking his message to the state. KELOLAND news
analyst Steve Hemmingsen says, “If you go back 30 years or so you had
Harold Hughes who had a pretty good Democratic machine going over there
and the Democrats are never very far behind the Republicans in Iowa.”
…Hemmingsen thinks one of the reasons the two candidates have chosen
Sioux City as a political stop on the campaign trail is because of the
community's diversity. He says, “Sioux City is the biggest thing in
that part of Iowa by far. And also you have quite an ethnic population
down there, a multi-ethnic population. You also have blue collar
workers, some white collar workers and I think in a lot of ways Sioux
City is probably more representative of what the whole population looks
like than Sioux Falls is.”
(more)
Inactive voters swell Black Hawk County rolls
Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier
WATERLOO — They could control the outcome in any local election. If they voted.
More
than 10,900 Black Hawk County registered voters — 13 percent of the
82,000-plus total — are listed as inactive. That's the highest number
of inactive voters in First Congressional District counties, even more
than Scott County, which has more people. And it's the sixth-highest
number in the state.
The
number of inactive voters in the county has more than doubled over four
years. It's the highest since the federal National Voter Registration
Act was enacted in 1993.
Under
that law, county voter registration rolls are checked annually against
U.S. Postal Service records to determine changes in address of
registered voters. The County Election office sends those voters who
have moved a card requesting a mailed response. Those voters who do not
respond are listed as inactive.
(more)
High-Tech Voting Machines Coming to Eastern Iowa
KCRG.com
Eastern
Iowa voters will soon see high-tech machines at their polling places.
Delaware and five other counties are the first in the state to receive
five pound precinct count optical voting machines.
(more)
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