Not School Election Day

Not School Election Day

Guess what we're not doing today? Voting.

That's right, for the first time in Iowa, the second Tuesday in September is NOT school board election day. The change in state law, setting up four year school board terms with elections every other year, passed in 2008, but didn't take effect in time for that year. It's good for county auditors, who don't have to stop prepping for a general election to run an entirely different low turnout election.

(It would have been especially bad this year, with the latest possible school election date of 9/14 and the earliest general election date, 11/2, that's only seven weeks between elections instead of eight. That's what we had in 2004.)

There will be a few scattered special school elections, and a bunch of primaries in other states. It's the last major primary date (Hawaii is last on Saturday). Federal law changes require overseas ballots to be mailed 45 days out, which is also this Saturday. So this may be the last time primaries are held this late. Some traditional September states (like Minnesota which voted last month) have already moved their primaries, but the holdouts will have a really hard time honoring that mandate. Someone will sue someone, I'm sure.

As for today's primaries, a couple tea partier wins in Delaware and New Hampshire could save the Senate. Guides to all the night's action here and here.

Matt Schultz and crew fired up the Voter Fraud Fear Machine over the weekend, and Mike Mauro quickly rebutted; iowavoters has a nice summary. Interesting that Schultz appears interested in the kind of aggressive purging we've seen in other states with GOP secretaries of state. Remember as always: Mauro is talking about helping people vote, Schultz is talking about keeping people from voting, and that tells you what you need to know about the mindset.

Don't forget Roxanne on the Pentacrest at 1:30. Monday she issued a debate challenge to Grassley: Be there or be chair. I still think Leonard Boswell's refusal to debate in the 2008 primary, and the emty chair debate in that race, played a role in the Register's Ed Fallon endorsement. (Chet and Terry face off tonight.)

Finally, the "grownup" Yes on 19 committee launches.