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Johnson County Elections: Historic Facts and Figures

As an ongoing project, the Auditor's Office is researching past Johnson County elections and office holders.  We keep our historic records permanently, and plan to make more material available on this web site.

• Election Returns 1970 - present
• History of Johnson County Elected Officials
  • Elected Department Heads
  • Board of Supervisors
  • State Legislators (1991-2002)
  • U.S. Representatives and Congressional Districts (1942-present)

Here are answers to some of the questions we hear most often.  If you have a historic election question, please e-mail us and ask.  

We have closely reviewed returns for primary and general elections only back to 1970, and cannot definitively answer questions beyond that time without more research. We do not have records for city and school elections before 1976.

Voter Turnout: Highs and Lows Highest Vote Totals for Candidates Close Elections Voter Registration Totals

Republican Candidates and Officials Third Parties Write-in candidates Most candidates for an office

Highest and Lowest Turnout

Voter turnout rises and falls with the type of election.  Turnout has also tended to increase over the years as more people have won the right to vote and as Johnson County's population has grown.  The best way to look at turnout is to compare similar elections.

Presidential Year

The November 4, 2008 presidential election set a new record for highest turnout election ever in Johnson County, with 73,231 voters. The previous highest turnout election was the November 2, 2004 presidential election, with 66,292 voters.

Gubernatorial Year

The November 7, 2006 general election set a new off-year turnout record with 44,292 voters, breaking the old record of 38,900 voters in the November 5, 2002 general election.

More details and statistics on non-presidential year general elections

Primary Elections

13,418 Johnson County voters participated in the June 7, 1994 primary election.  A Republican primary for Governor between incumbent Terry Branstad and Congressman Fred Grandy helped contribute to the record turnout.

For more details see our history of primary elections page.

City Elections

15,728 Iowa City voters participated in the November 6, 2007 election.  For more details, including records for each city, see our history of city elections page.

Special Elections

The highest percentage turnout special election was the February 9, 1999 Swisher water utility election.  The turnout of 70.16% more closely resembled a presidential election than a special election.

Other Types of Elections

• City primaries (Iowa City and others)
• School and Bond Elections

Low Turnout

The lowest turnout election in recent years was the September 8, 1992 school board election. County-wide, 1,307 out of 59,910 registered voters participated, for a turnout of 2.18%.  Only one school district had any contested races.

Turnout by District, 9/8/1992	Registered	Voters	Turnout	Contests
Iowa City	53,707	515	0.96%	2 seats at large, 2 candidates
Clear Creek	2,321	646	27.83%	District 3: 1 seat, 2 candidates District 5: 1 seat, 1 candidate on ballot, 1 write in
Lone Tree	1,121	73	6.51%	2 seats at large, 2 candidates
Solon	2,761	73	2.64%	2 seats at large, 2 candidates

Early Voting

The November 4, 2008 presidential election set new early voting records, with more voters casting ballots early than on Election Day. 40,605 early votes were counted, more than 55% of the total vote.

The only other Johnson County election with more early votes than Election Day votes was the February 11, 2003 Iowa City school bond.

Highest Turnout for a Precinct

1,826 people voted on Election Day in North Liberty Precinct 1 in the 2008 presidential election.  North Liberty 1 was one of three precincts that voted at the North Liberty Community Center in 2008, with a total of  3,145 voters.

The record for a combined school precinct is 1,913 at Helen Lemme School (combined School Precinct 8) in an October 15, 1991 special bond election.

Presidential Election Year

The highest vote total recorded for any candidate in Johnson County history, contested or uncontested, was 52,741 for Senator Tom Harkin in the November 4, 2008 presidential election. That vote total was topped by the 53,143 Yes votes for the state constitutional amendment in the same election.

Gubernatorial Election Year

In 2006 County Treasurer Tom Kriz (D) set a new record for most votes in an off-year election, with 34,352 votes in an unopposed race.  Kriz had the previous unopposed record, with 29,587 votes in 2002.

Governor Chet Culver (D) set a new record in 2006 for opposed candidates, winning 30,083 votes.  Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller (D) had the previous record with 25,865 votes in 2002.

City Elections

The highest vote totals for any city candidates were set in the November 6, 2007 election.  District A incumbent Ross Wilburn won 10,449 votes in his uncontested race.  At-Large candidate Matt Hayek won 9,485 votes to set the new record for a contested race. 

Records for other cities are on our history of city elections page.

The 2009 Iowa City sales tax election was the closest large election in Johnson County since the 1999 race for Iowa City Council member at large, which was decided by two votes.

Ties are quite common in general election years for township offices, especially if no candidates file.  In 2008 there were three ties for township offices where no candidates filed (vote totals of two votes and one vote).

The largest vote totals in tied elections in recent years were two ties in 1995: Mayor of Hills (two candidates with 65 votes each) and Solon School Board (two with 73 votes). In the event of a tie, under Iowa law the winner is drawn by lot at the official canvass of votes.

 Other recent close elections of note include:

• The 1978 general election for the Board of Supervisors (11 votes)
• The 1979 election for Iowa City Council, District A (16 votes)
• The 1997 special election for county recorder (17 votes)
• The 1998 Democratic primary for county treasurer (28 votes)

Close elections by percentage (2008 Minnesota Senate included for comparison):

* source: Minnesota Secretary of State

In a 1983 runoff election for one city council seat in North Liberty, four candidates were within one vote of each other.  Randy Ferdig had 38 votes and three other candidates (two of them write-ins) had 37 votes each.

Voter Registration Statistics

Most Registered Voters

Johnson County voter registration set an all-time record just after the 2008 presidential election.

After the 2004 presidential election, voter registration peaked at 85,267 on January 3, 2005. That record was topped on September 12, 2008, and totals kept climbing through Election Day 2008. As of 8 p.m. Monday, November 3, the day before the election, 92,222 voters were registered.

Totals climbed even more with Iowa's new Election Day registration law. Registration peaked on November 19, 2008, with 94,132 registered voters.

Voter registration statistics

Highest and Lowest percentages by party, 1977-present

Johnson County has historically voted for Democrats more often than Republicans.  This goes back many decades - for example, Johnson County was the number one county in Iowa for Woodrow Wilson in 1912.  Voter registration statistics during the last 30 years have averaged roughly two Democrats for each Republican.

Who was the last Republican to win in Johnson County?

Many registered Republicans currently hold non-partisan offices in Johnson County such as city council or school board. There are also many Republican township officials.  (Township offices were elected on a nonpartisan basis beginning in 2006.)  A number of statewide and congressional Republican candidates have also won majorities in recent years in Johnson County.

Presidential

In 1960, Richard Nixon defeated John F. Kennedy 10,927 to 10,563 in Johnson County while losing the national election.  In his subsequent campaigns in 1968 and 1972, Nixon won nationally but lost Johnson County.

Johnson County Presidential results, 1920-2008

Congressional

Senator Chuck Grassley has carried Johnson County four times in five elections (1986, 1992, 1998, 2004), losing the county only in his first Senate race as a challenger in 1980.

Former Representative Jim Leach won Johnson County seven times in the twelve elections in which his district included Johnson County (1974-80, 1992-2006), with his last win in 2004.

Governor

Five-term Republican Governor Robert Ray won Johnson County in his last three races (1972, 1974, and 1978) after losing the county in his first two tries (1968, 1970).

Statewide Office

In 2006, State Auditor David Vaudt won Johnson County without opposition.  State Auditor Richard Johnson won Johnson County in 1998 over opponents from the Reform and Natural Law parties.  The last Republican to win a statewide race in Johnson County over a Democratic opponent was Secretary of State Mary Jane Odell in 1982.

State Legislators

Two Republicans - one senator and one representative - serve in seats that are primarily in other counties but include two Johnson County precincts and parts of two others. State Legislators

The last Republican elected to a state legislative seat primarily or entirely within Johnson County was Rep. Dale Hibbs (1979-1980), who was elected to one term in 1978 and did not seek re-election.

County

The last Republican elected to countywide office was Sheriff Gary Hughes (1973-88), who won the last of his four terms in 1984 and did not seek re-election in 1988.

The last Republican on the Board of Supervisors was Oren Alt (1957-62).  Alt was elected to three year terms in 1956 (for a term beginning in 1957) and 1958 (for a term beginning in 1960), and was defeated in 1962. (Board terms were three years until the 1960s.)

History of County Elected Officials and Board of Supervisors

Iowa law requires a political party to win at least 2 percent of the votes for governor or president to earn and keep political party status.  Details  No parties qualified for this status in 2008.

Effective January 1, 2008, Iowa has established a procedure by which parties which do not qualify for full party status can qualify for "political organization" status. Political organizations are listed on voter registration forms, but do not have primary elections. The Green and Libertarian Parties have earned political organization status.

In recent decades, three groups other than the Democratic and Republican parties have won enough votes to qualify for full party status.

• The American Party earned party status in 1968 following George Wallace's presidential candidacy, and lost party status in 1972.
• The Reform Party qualified in 1996 after Ross Perot's second presidential campaign, and lost status in 1998.  Details
• The Green Party qualified in 2000 after presidential candidate Ralph Nader earned over 2% of the statewide vote, and lost status in 2002.  Details

Two other presidential candidates - John Anderson (1980) and Ross Perot (in his first run in 1992) won more than 2 percent of the statewide vote.  Since they ran as candidates nominated by petition and did not name a party, their organizations did not qualify for party status.

No third party candidate for governor has won over 2 percent of the statewide vote since Robert Dilley of the American Party in 1970.

Write-In Winners

There were 14 write-in winners for township offices in 2008, all for seats with no candidates on the ballot. This happens in nearly every general election year.

The most recent write-in candidates who defeated candidates listed on the ballot were in the November 8, 2005 city elections in Lone Tree and North Liberty.  These were the largest scale write-in campaigns since the 1997 Iowa City School Board election.  In that year, two seats were open but only one candidate filed.

In the 1983 Iowa City school board election, three write in candidates ran ahead of the two candidates listed on the ballot in a contest for two seats.

In 1992, the Iowa ballot included 14 candidates for president.

In the 1976 primary election, 15 candidates were simultaneously running in three separate contests for three seats on the Board of Supervisors:

• Ten Democratic candidates ran for two full-term seats.
• Two Republicans ran for the two full-term seats.
• Three Democrats ran for an unexpired term.

No more than 13 of these candidates appeared on the same ballot.

In the 1979 Iowa City primary, there were a total of 16 candidates in three separate contests for four seats:

• Eight at large candidates competed for four nominations (two to be elected).
• There were four candidates each in two district races (two to be nominated and one to be elected in each district).

 No more than 12 of these candidates appeared on the same ballot.