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Governor's race to be included in Secretary Pate's State Fair Straw Poll
Paul D. Pate
Secretary of State
State Capitol
Des Moines, IA 50319
Iowa Secretary of State Seal WEBSITE: sos.iowa.gov
E-MAIL: sos@sos.iowa.gov
OFFICE OF THE IOWA SECRETARY OF STATE
MEDIA CONTACT:
Kevin Hall
Communications Director
Kevin.Hall@sos.iowa.gov
(515) 725-2942
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
July 24, 2017

Governor's race to be included in Secretary Pate's State Fair Straw Poll


DES MOINES – Secretary of State Paul Pate plans to give Iowans their first chance to cast a vote in the 2018 gubernatorial race, with a straw poll to be held at the Iowa State Fair. Secretary Pate's State Fair Straw Poll will be conducted at his booth inside the Varied Industries Building throughout the State Fair, August 10-20.

Voters can cast their ballot on tablet computers. All announced gubernatorial candidates from the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian parties will be included in the poll. An option for "other" will also be provided. The poll will be conducted just like a primary. Voters' choices will be for candidates inside a specific political party.

"I want to encourage voter participation and civic engagement. This is a great way to do that and an opportunity for Iowans to make their voices heard early in the 2018 race," Secretary Pate. "The gubernatorial race will be the biggest one on the statewide ballot next year. We want to see what Iowans think about the race, 15 months out. Of course, this is also done for entertainment value and is by no means a scientific poll."

Real time results will be available on the tablets and on the Secretary of State's website, sos.iowa.gov. Secretary Pate invites all State Fair attendees to visit his booth and cast their vote in the Straw Poll. He is extending invitations to all three political parties and all announced candidates from those parties to participate as well.

Previous State Fair Straw Polls from Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate included the 2016 Iowa Caucus, the 2016 general election for president, and Iowa's 2016 U.S. Senate race. The 2015 State Fair Straw Poll was an early indicator that Bernie Sanders would provide a much more difficult challenge to Hillary Clinton than expected. Clinton won by just four percentage points and Sanders actually led the Straw Poll following the first few days of the State Fair

Secretary Pate's 2016 State Fair Straw Poll showed Donald Trump defeating Hillary Clinton by 11 percentage points and Chuck Grassley defeating Patty Judge by 21 points. The actual general election outcome was nine points and 25 points, respectively.

Other questions for the 2017 State Fair Straw Poll will be Iowans' Favorite College Mascot and Favorite State Fair Food. Everyone is welcome to participate in the State Fair Straw Poll.

Other features of Secretary Pate's State Fair booth at the Varied Industries Building include information about upcoming election law changes in Iowa and the Safe at Home address confidentiality program, the opportunity to register to vote online or by filling out a form, and visitors can pay tribute to a military veteran with the Honor a Veteran with Your Vote initiative.

More exciting additions to Secretary Pate's State Fair booth will be announced in the coming days.

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