_______(Name—See list below)________ of _______(County)____ County is among eight Iowans from across the state who recently graduated from the Iowa State Election Administrators Training (SEAT). The session was held in Des Moines over the last two years.
The SEAT training started in August 2002 through the joint efforts of the Iowa State County Auditors Association and the office of Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver. The program is open to local officials who work with elections, and is designed to insure that the citizens of Iowa have well administered elections that are fair and accurate, according to Paul Coates, ISU Extension political scientist.
The program is coordinated through the Office of State and Local Government Programs operated by Iowa State University Extension as part of the Public Policy and Administration Program at ISU. The program is coordinated by Coates and by Alan Vandehaar, ISU Extension community development field specialist.
Topics included among other things making polls accessible to voters, administration of party primaries and nominations, and the purchase of voting equipment. Costs of the training were paid by the Secretary of State’s Office from funds received from the Help America Vote Act passed by the United States Congress.
Election workers who complete 50 hours of training in the SEAT program are eligible for certification as election administrators. Coates said Iowa is a national leader in the development of a professional certification program for election administrators at the state and county level.
A list of the 2005 graduates is provided below.
Adair County Auditor’s Office: Sandy Mitchell
Audubon County Auditor’s Office: Joni Hansen
Cherokee County Auditor’s Office: Bonnie Ebel
Clay County Auditor’s Office: Gina Ean
Dubuque County Auditor’s Office: Marilyn Berendes
Grundy County Auditor’s Office: Mary Schmidt
Muscatine County Auditor’s Office: Leslie Soule
Worth County Auditor’s Office: Barb Walser
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