Older voters owned Carroll County, Iowa elections

73.6% of voters were 50 and older; and only 17 people under 25 voted in City of Carroll

By DOUGLAS BURNS
Carroll Daily Times Herald
d.burns@carrollspaper.com
Just 39 people under age 25 voted in municipal elections throughout all cities in Carroll County Nov. 3, according to the Auditor’s Office.

That’s just 1.5 percent of the total voters who cast ballots in those elections. On Election Day, there were 1,105 eligible voters in Carroll County between the ages of 18 and 24.

“Without voting, they’re not really securing that representation,” said Carroll County Auditor Kourtney Irlbeck.

Meanwhile, continuing a trend the Daily Times Herald has reported over the last decade, older voters showed in up in relatively large numbers. Factoring in all city elections this November in Carroll County, 73.6 percent of the voters were 50 and older — and 42.3 percent were 65 and older.

Comparing U.S. Census and election data reveals that seniors in Carroll County dramatically increased the influence of their actual population in the local elections.

According to the 2014 Census estimate, 19.2 percent of Carroll County’s population of 20,562 is 65 and older.

Seniors also posted the highest turnout with 1,054 of the 3,106 registered voters over 64 — or 33.9 percent turning casting ballots.

Countywide, voter turnout for all ages stood at 21.4 percent.

The 440 voters between the ages of 35 and 49 made up 17.6 percent of the voters, and the 178 voters between the ages of 25 and 34 accounted for 7.1 percent of the total vote in the county.

The balance of power in local elections for seniors holds for the City of Carroll, too.

According to election data, of the 1,810 voters in the Carroll city election — in which there were three contested City Council seats — 75 percent of the voters were 50 and older. People 65 and older made up 44.3 percent of the total vote Nov. 3 in the City of Carroll.

There were only 17 people under age 25 who cast ballots in the City of Carroll in this last local election.

In the City of Carroll, the 115 voters between the ages of 35 and 49 represented 17.7 percent of the total vote in the city. And the 115 people ages 25-34 represented 6.4 percent of the total vote.