Ames Today

In the recent election, Story County achieved its highest-ever voter registration, which county officials credited to door-to-door activism canvassing voters and greater student participation resulting in the successful Ames City Council candidacy of an Iowa State University student.

“I don’t doubt that certain candidacies contribute to interest, and that the caucuses resulted in many voter registrations that otherwise might not have happened until later in the election cycle," Linda S. Murken, Story County supervisor, told Ames Today.

Story County has a Democrat majority of voters and this led the party’s presidential candidates to concentrate efforts locally, county officials said.

Iowa as a whole had more than 2 million active registered voters, the most-ever seen in a general election year, with 63,697 active registered voters in Story County, according to the Ames Tribune

Democrats had the edge in the county with 20,625 registered voters as opposed to 17,343 registered Republicans, while 24,879 had no party affiliation. Statewide, Republicans had a slight margin of advantage with 639,969 registered voters compared to 614,519 registered Democrats.

Both parties were less than the 746,492 active voters who are independents with no party affiliation.

Linda Hagedorn, president of the League of Women Voters for Ames and Story County, told the Ames Tribune the momentum in voter registration is due to the current highly charged political climate and Iowa’s recognition as the first-in-the-nation for voting in the presidential race and the Feb. 3 Iowa Caucuses.

“I will just preface by saying that there is definitely an increase in interest due to the political unrest in the country,” Hagedorn said. “Also, the amount of visibility in the state, or here in Ames, where people have a chance to reach out to candidates and identify with a goal or a vision.”

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate told the Ames Tribune new voter balloting has been installed, making it easier to vote but harder for hackers to cheat. A new online system installed in January 2016 allowed more than 150,000 Iowans to register to vote or update their registration.

“The best thing we’ve done in a long time was the online voting registration,” Pate said in the Ames Tribune report. “It’s been a real success, because it makes it so much more convenient for folks to register, or better yet, update their voter registration.”

Pate added there has been an increase in the number of Iowa State University students voting. This led to the election of 20-year-old student Rachel Junck to the Ames City Council last month.

Murken also credited the work of county officials and volunteers including the League of Women Voters.