Secretary of State launches audit into uncounted Johnson County absentee ballots

State and local offices have launched an audit into more than 2,000 midterm election ballots left uncounted in Johnson County, though race outcomes are not expected to change.

According to a Friday afternoon joint statement from Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate and Johnson County Auditor Julie Persons, an official in the Johnson County Auditor’s Office on Thursday identified about 2,017 absentee ballots that were not included in unofficial results from Tuesday’s local, state and federal elections.

The audit, which was set to begin “immediately” on Friday and wrap up by Nov. 9, will focus on the county’s Absentee and Special Voters Precinct. Based on current unofficial results, race outcomes are not expected to change, the joint statement said.

“This is why we employ a layered approach to election security, and scenarios like this prove that our checks and balances work,” the joint statement stated. “This is also why we continue to remind Iowans that all results reported on Election Night are unofficial.”

Each Iowa county’s Absentee and Special Voters Precinct is still counting ballots cast through programs allowing survivors of domestic violence and similar issues and overseas Americans to vote, according to the joint statement, and election results will not become official until “county and statewide canvasses have been completed.”

Johnson County is part of Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, where Democrat candidate Christina Bohannan was called by the Associated Press to have beaten Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks with 54% of the vote — nearly 32,000 votes. None of the unofficial results for statewide office were within 2,017 votes.

The only contested legislative race within that margin was in House District 91, where Republican Judd Lawler was leading Democrat Mark Divitt by 940 votes in Johnson County. In House District 92, which is split between Johnson and Washington counties, incumbent Republican Rep. Heather Hora was leading Democrat Brittany Erickson by 2,020 votes.

Iowa broke a turnout record in the midterm election, with Pate telling reporters Wednesday that the more than 1.38 million votes cast in the 2026 midterms surpassed the previous record of nearly 1.33 million set in 2018.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and work closely together as the audit is completed,” the joint statement said. “We are confident in Iowa’s layered approach to election security and the safeguards in place that keep Iowa elections safe and secure.”