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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.   Please note that we have closely reviewed only the last quarter century of records and cannot definitively answer questions beyond that time.

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 2, 2004 presidential election set a new record for highest turnout election ever in Johnson County, with 66,292 voters.  The previous highest turnout election was the November 7, 2000 presidential election with 53,299 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 February 11, 2003 Iowa City school bond was the first election in Johnson County history with more ballots cast early than on Election Day.  6,298 early ballots were counted, accounting for 50.45% of the vote.

The highest number of early votes cast was in the November 2, 2004 presidential election.  The 29,748 early votes accounted for 44.96% of the total vote.

Highest Turnout for a Precinct

1,735 people voted at the North Liberty Community Center in the 2000 presidential election.  At the time, the entire city of North Liberty was one precinct; it has since been split into two precincts.

For a school election with combined precincts, the record 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 was 48,013, for Auditor Tom Slockett (D) in the November 2, 2004 presidential election.  Slockett had no opponent.

The most votes ever cast for an opposed candidate were 41,939 for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 presidential 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 close 2000 presidential election proved that a few votes can make a big difference.  Johnson County has seen several close local elections in the past three decades.

Ties are quite common for township offices, especially if no candidates file.  In 2006 there were four ties for township offices where no candidates filed (vote totals of two votes and three votes).

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.

The closest large election in Johnson County in recent years was the 1999 race for Iowa City Council member at large which was decided by two 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 (2000 Florida presidential included for comparison):

* source: Florida 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 reached an all-time record 85,267 on January 3, 2005, following the 2004 presidential election.

Highest and Lowest percentages by party, 1977-present

Voter registration statistics are updated weekly.

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, 1960-2004

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

Three Republicans - one senator and two representatives - serve in seats that are primarily in other counties but include Johnson County precincts.  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 2006.

Effective January 1, 2008, Iowa has established a procedure by which parties which do not qualify for full party status can be listed on voter registration forms as "political organizations."  The Green and Libertarian Parties have qualified as political organizations.

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

The most recent write-in winner was Steve Harris, elected to the Hills city council in 2007.  Three seats were up for election, but only two candidates filed.  There are normally write-in winners in every general election for township offices.  This usually happens when no candidates file for the positions.  Eighteen write-in candidates were elected to township offices in 2006; in all these cases no one was on the ballot.

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.