The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office is conducting a series of workshops through this week to help counties prepare for 2020 elections. Incident Response Plan seminars take county auditors and staff, IT administrators and emergency management coordinators through a variety of scenarios that could disrupt elections, including natural disasters, power outages and cyberattacks, the office said in a statement. Six virtual workshops are conducted with the assistance of information security services firm Pratum; workshops will conclude Aug. 6. Absentee ballots will be available to Iowans beginning Oct. 5, but Iowans can request an absentee ballot now at www.voterread.iowa.gov.
