Johnson County election officials discovered that roughly 2,017 absentee ballots were left out of the unofficial results from Tuesday's election, prompting the Iowa Secretary of State's Office to order an immediate audit of the county's entire absentee and special voters precinct. The omission was found Nov. 5, and officials expect the audit to wrap up by Monday, Nov. 9, just ahead of the county's planned release of official canvass results.
What Officials Are Saying
The Johnson County Auditor's Office identified the uncounted ballots two days after Tuesday's local, state and federal elections, according to The Gazette. As part of the directed audit, all of the county's approximately 36,000 absentee ballots will be recounted, the outlet reported. Johnson County Auditor Julie Persons said the 2,017 ballots are not enough to change the outcome of any race, according to the same report.
The audit's scope goes beyond a typical spot check. Per the Iowa City Press-Citizen, the state ordered the county to audit the entire absentee and special voters precinct, with the work expected to start immediately and finish by Nov. 9. The auditor's office will publish the official canvass results, including the previously omitted ballots, on Nov. 10.
A Joint Statement and a Reminder About Unofficial Results
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and Auditor Persons issued a joint statement reminding Iowans that all election night results are unofficial, as reported by Iowa Capital Dispatch. In that statement, the two officials said Iowa employs layered election security checks and balances, and they pledged to monitor the situation and work together as the audit is completed. They also expressed confidence in the state's overall election security approach and safeguards.
Iowa's absentee and special voters precincts in each county count ballots tied to programs for survivors of domestic violence and similar issues, as well as ballots from overseas Americans, the Iowa Capital Dispatch report explains. Election results across the state become official only after county and statewide canvasses are completed.
Close Statehouse Races Hang in the Balance
Johnson County sits within Iowa's 1st Congressional District, where Democrat Christina Bohannan defeated Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks, winning 54% of the vote and beating her by nearly 32,000 votes, according to the Associated Press figures cited by Iowa Capital Dispatch. That race was not close enough for the newly found ballots to matter, but only one statehouse contest was within range of the 2,017-vote total found in Johnson County.
In House District 91, Republican Judd Lawler led Democrat Mark Divitt by 940 votes in unofficial county results. House District 92, which is split between Johnson and Washington counties, saw incumbent Republican Rep. Heather Hora leading Democrat Brittany Erickson by 2,020 votes. Officials have said the omitted ballots are not expected to change the outcome of any race based on current unofficial results, though the audit and canvass will formally settle the counts.
Record Turnout Across the State
The uncounted ballots surfaced amid a historic turnout year for Iowa. Pate told reporters that more than 1.38 million votes were cast in the 2026 midterms, breaking the state's previous midterm turnout record of nearly 1.33 million votes set in 2018, per Iowa Capital Dispatch's reporting.
Iowa's certification process runs on its own separate timeline from the Johnson County-specific audit. Routine post-election audits are also taking place at randomly selected precincts in all 99 counties, where bipartisan teams hand-count ballots to verify tabulator totals, according to KCCI. Unlike that random sampling, the Johnson County audit covers the county's entire absentee and special voters precinct.
County boards of supervisors statewide, including Johnson County's, must complete their canvass of election results by Nov. 16, KCCI reported, while the State Canvassing Board faces a Nov. 30 deadline to certify results statewide. Those dates apply broadly across Iowa and are separate from the Nov. 9 completion target set for Johnson County's directed audit.
