Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz announced today that a recount of the votes cast in November 5th race for Mayor of Blue Grass will occur on Wednesday, November 20, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. in the Board Room of the Scott County Administrative Center. Challenger Timothy Brandenburg requested the recount after losing to incumbent Mayor Brinson Kinzer by one vote. Kinzer received 169 votes, Brandenburg received 168 votes and there were 16 scattered write-in votes. Earlier today the Scott County Board of Supervisors voted to authorize a recount.

The recount will be conducted by a panel of three appointees, one member appointed by each candidate and a third member appointed by agreement of the candidate appointees. Greg Boll of Davenport will represent Brandenburg, Pat Zamora of Davenport will represent Kinzer, and Donald Frericks of Blue Grass will be the third member. Ballots will be both hand counted and counted by electronic ballot tabulators. The recount is open to the public.

DAVENPORT - Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz is reminding those interested in voting in the upcoming school elections that the deadline to pre-register to vote is Friday, August 30, 2013. Those interested can register at the Scott County Auditor's Office or at a driver's license station. The Auditor's Office will be open until 5:00 p.m. on August 30th to accommodate voter registration. Mail-in registrations post marked on or before August 26, 2031 will also be accepted for pre-registration. The school election will be held on Tuesday, September 10, 2013. Polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.

After Friday, those interested in voting, but who are not pre-registered, may register to vote at the polls on Election Day or at the Auditor's Office and vote an absentee ballot prior to Election Day. Those registering in this manner are required to provide proof of their identity through a picture identity card, such as a valid driver's license, and proof of their residency if the identity card does not list a current address. Details for Election Day registration are available on the Auditor's webpage, http://www.scottcountyiowa.com/auditor/.

There will be three positions up for election for the Bettendorf School Board, the Davenport School Board and the North Scott School Board. The Pleasant Valley School Board will have positions for director districts one, two, three, six and seven on the ballot.

The Eastern Iowa Community College District will have positions for director districts one, two, six and eight on the ballots in Scott County.

The Bettendorf School District ballot will include a public measure to approve the physical plant and equipment property tax levy. The Davenport School District ballot will include a public measure to update the District's revenue purpose statement for use of the District's portion of the state sales tax dedicated to schools.

For more information contact the Scott County Auditor's Office at 563-326-8631.

Current Version Would Restrict Voting Options of Some Senior Voters; Increase Costs to Scott County

DAVENPORT - During a meeting with area legislators today, Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz asked the law makers to take a hard look at a Photo ID bill now under consideration in the Iowa House of Representatives. One provision in the bill would require that residents of assisted living centers receive absentee ballots delivered in person via bipartisan healthcare teams. Voters receiving these ballots would have to vote immediately and return their ballots to the teams. Current law requires this type of voting for residents of nursing homes and hospital patients.

"There are 517 registered voters who are residents of assisted living centers in Scott County. Making these residents vote in this way is not fair to them and will increase election costs," said Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz.

"Current law requires nursing home patients to vote this way as a protection for their privacy and to ensure the security of their ballots," Moritz said. "Many years ago the legislature enacted this system after complaints that some patients felt coerced to vote a certain way. However, we have not received any complaints from assisted living residents that they have been coerced," she said.

Besides infringing on residents freedoms, this provision will increase election costs.

"Last year my office incurred $3,760 in costs for voting by 271 people at nursing homes and hospitals. If we added to that total the 316 residents of assisted living centers who voted absentee then we estimate those costs will increase to $8,480 as we will more than double the number of voters who will cast their ballots in  this method," Moritz said. "I doubt that the legislature will help us cover these costs," she added.

For more information contact the Scott County Auditor's Office at 563-326-8631.