Pottawattamie County
July 7, 2023
Pottawattamie County, Iowa – A special election on August 1st will allow residents of Pottawattamie County to decide how County Supervisors are elected. Because county-wide special elections are rare, and the subject matter on the upcoming ballot is complex, Pottawattamie County is outlining the choices available to voters in a detailed video presentation.
The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors approved the special election on June 6th, after private groups gathered nearly 4,000 signatures and submitted a petition to allow county residents to choose between three options for county supervisor elections.
Currently, Pottawattamie County is a Plan One county. Each member of the Board of Supervisors is allowed to reside anywhere in Pottawattamie County and the voters of the county elect all five members of the Board of Supervisors. Plan Two would divide Pottawattamie County into five districts of roughly equal population. One Supervisor must reside in each of the districts, and voters would still elect all five members of the Board of Supervisors. Plan Three would also divide Pottawattamie County into five districts of roughly equal population, but. voters would elect the one Supervisor who resides in the same district as the voter and would not vote for the other four Supervisors in the other four districts.
If Plan Two or Plan Three passes, Pottawattamie County will be divided into five districts of approximately 18,733 residents. Council Bluffs will be split into four districts, with one of those four also including some portions of the county adjacent to the city. One district will not include any portion of Council Bluffs. Districts cannot be set until after the election, but the video presentation released by Pottawattamie County explains the lawful factors that determine district size and outlines where district boundaries will likely be drawn.
“Pottawattamie County Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has a license to use Esri Redistricting, which is specialized software used by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office,” said Matt Wilber, Pottawattamie County Attorney. “If Plan Two or Plan Three is the preference of the voters, a formal process would be followed to determine districts, but the hypothetical maps designed by GIS through specialized software should present a fairly accurate illustration. We hope the video presentation clarifies the options available to voters for this special election.”
Polls will be open from 7:00am to 8:00pm on August 1st. Early voting begins on July 12th.
September 27, 2022
Learn more about the layers of election security found in the voting systems made by Election Systems & Software, used for elections in Pottawattamie County, Iowa.
