(SBA) - Election Day 2024 is next week, and it is time to know exactly who you are voting for (if you have not yet taken advantage of early voting.) Most of us enter the voting station with a good idea of who we are voting for as President and you should also know whether you will approve the school bond referendum (in the affirmative, preferably) but most of us have little idea concerning the candidates for the other offices to be decided in this year’s election. Iowans this year will vote on one state Supreme Court Justice (David May), Four Court of Appeals Judges (Tyler Buller, Mary Chicchelly, Samuel Langholz and Mary Eller Tabor) and 64 district judges (in Woodbury County Judge Robert Tiefenthaler and Associate Judges Stephanie S. Forker Parry and Jessica Noll). and a 4th District U.S. Representative (Randy Feenstra or Ryan Melton). At the county level, we will vote on three Board of Supervisors members in District 1(Kent Carper or John Herrig,), in District 3 (Willard Brian McNaughton or Mark Nelson) and District 5 (Lincoln Ryan or David Dietrich), a county auditor and recorder (Pat Gill or Michelle Skaff), a state representative in district 14 (Jacob Bossman-running unopposed), and a county sheriff (Chad Sheehan—running unopposed).Most of these candidates do not advertise either in the media or via physical signage and so, unless you are willing to do due diligence and to research each candidate individually, you will know very little about the individuals whose futures you will be deciding.
Further, there are two Iowa State Constitutional Amendments to be decided. Amendment 1 repeals the 1970 State Constitutional Amendment and establishes the law that electors must be eighteen years of age to vote in a general election and for a primary election, the resident must be eighteen years old by the next general election. A resident must reside in the state for six months and in the county for sixty days to be eligible to vote in a general election. Amendment 2 repeals Section 17 of Article IV of the Constitution of the State of Iowa and establishes that the lieutenant governor will act as the governor if the sitting governor is temporarily incapacitated. The lieutenant governor will remain in that role until the sitting governor either dies, is removed from office, or resigns, at which point the lieutenant governor will serve out the remainder of the sitting governor’s term.
In order to vote in the state of Iowa in an election, an individual must: Be a U.S. citizen, Be a resident of Iowa, Be at least 17 years old who will be eighteen on or before the general election deadline, Not be convicted of a felony, unless the individual’s rights are restored, Not currently be judged by a court to be “incompetent to vote,” and/or Not vote in more than one place. The media is replete with reports of undocumented individuals who have purportedly voted illegally, but in reality, proof of identity and residency prevent illegal voting in most cases. In order to vote in an election, an individual must bring proof or identification and of residence (Iowa driver’s license or non-operator ID, U.S. Passport, U.S. military or U.S. Veteran id, Tribal ID/document or Iowa voter ID card. If you are registered to vote, but do not have a Voter ID, you will automatically be mailed a Voter ID card for free, according to the Iowa Secretary of State. Polling stations for Sergeant Bluff are located in the Community Center and will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, November 5, 2024.
Research on individual candidates for office can easily be done online. If you do not have access to a computer, you may visit the Sergeant Bluff Public Library and one of the workers there can help you to find what information you may need. I knew very little about the district and state judges up for reappointment, so I did some preliminary research and found out enough information to allow me to be satisfied with my vote for or against each one. All Court appointments are made by the governor. The only Iowa Supreme Court judge eligible for reappointment is David May who was appointed by Kim Reynolds in 2022. In 2023, Judge May, along with the other three State Supreme Court Judges, voted in favor of the six-week abortion ban currently in place in our state. All judges within the state are examined for “professional competency” (and NOT for their political views) by the lawyers within the state. Of the four Court of Appeals judges eligible for reappointment, Mary Chicchely and Mary Ellen Tabor received positive ratings on their competency. Tyler Buller received an “above average” rating and only Samuel Langholz received a negative rating. Mary Ellen Tabor is the only one of these four judges to have been on the bench before Governor Reynold’s tenure in office. Her ratings over the years have remained positive. Our only District judge up for reappointment this year is Robert Tiefenthaler whose judicial performance review remains at 100%. The two District Associate judges include Jessica R. Noll, whose performance review is 95.6% and Stephanie S. Forker Parry whose rulings have given her a negative performance review. Performance reviews, awarded by the attorneys who try cases in each judge’s actual courtroom seem to be an excellent way to determine the judicial fitness of these judges.
I hope that the information that I have given you in this week’s columns will help you as you make your decisions about your votes next week. Our votes provide the best way to determine who will represent us at the local, state and national levels. Our votes do matter. Please exercise your most important freedom on November 5th.
