DES MOINES, Iowa – Early voting kicked off Wednesday for 2025 city council and school board elections.

While Iowans can stop at their polling place to vote early in person, it’s important to note that absentee ballot request must be submitted 15 days before the election, that being Monday, October 20th.

Absentee ballot voting requires completing a voter registration form and submitting it to their county auditors office. Iowans who miss that deadline can still vote early in person, and of course on election day itself. Iowa does have same day voter registration, with voters needing an ID or proof of residency.

Its important to note that the Polk County election office has moved. While the auditors office remains along Court Avenue, the election office is now at 2309 Euclid Avenue. The move provides plenty of parking and is expected to improve efficiency to the voting experience.

“There’s more machines, more voting booths for voters. There’s a drop box inside. So you’re not putting it into a box where you don’t know where it’s going. It’s going right to our safe. So this is a really big event for Polk County. Day one, we’ve had over 90 people vote and we’ve sent out over 4.000 absentee ballots,” said Jamie Fitzgerald, Polk County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections.

Election leaders say no matter how you plan to vote it’s important to have a voting plan.

“I just want to make sure voters have a plan. These are big elections, even though the president and the governor are not on the ballot. These are people that are making decisions that affect you on your daily life. It may be where the road construction is, where some development is going to be in your city, what your school districts tend to look like. So these are big issues for voters, and you’re also going to run your city councilperson or your school board members a lot more than you run into the president or your U.S. senators,” said Fitzgerald.

To find your polling location, go to the Iowa Secretary of States website here.