IOWA - Almost a quarter of registered Iowa voters have already cast ballots in the 2020 general election.
Numbers released by Secretary of State Paul Pate show 22 percent of active registered voters have returned absentee ballots (454,867).
Democrats lead Republicans by a nearly 2-to-1 margin in absentee returned ballots (252,257-130,833).
State lawmakers allowed Pate to send absentee ballot request forms to all voters ahead of this year's election. More than 780,000 absentee ballots have been received by voters, and more than 450,000 have been returned. This Friday is the last day absentee ballots can be requested.
There's concern in some states that the high number of mail-in votes will lead to a delay in reporting election results.
County auditors in Iowa will be able begin opening outer envelopes of absentee ballots the Friday before the November 3rd election, causing less concern over any delay in election results.