DES MOINES, Iowa -- There will be significantly fewer polling places in Polk County for Tuesday's Primary election during the COVID-19 pandemic .
"In past elections we've had up to 135 locations for 177 precincts. Polk County's going to have 28 polling locations for the primary elections" says Polk County Auditor Jamie Fitzgerald.
He says lots of voters are casting their ballots through the mail.
"In Polk County we've had just shy of 67,000 requests with more than 40,000 returned. Our biggest turnout for a primary in Polk County was just over 51,000 and during that campaign 7,400 people voted early" Fitzgerald says.
He says Polk County's doing everything it can to protect voters and poll workers during Tuesday's in-person voting.
"We're going to provide PPE to all our poll workers. We're going to provide every voter with their own pen--I'll guarantee you it's not the nicest pen you've ever owned--but we want our voters and our poll workers to be safe. We are going to have social distancing" Fitzgerald says.
For those voting in person Tuesday, polls are open from 7:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m.
The Polk County Auditor's website has links to polling places and sample ballots.