Posted at: 10/02/2012 10:47 PM
Updated at: 10/02/2012 10:50 PM
By: Steph Crock

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Voters Get a Head Start In Iowa

(ABC 6 NEWS) -- Though many of us are only 35 days away from the election. Many Iowan's have already hit the polls. They've been able to start voting since September 27th.

It was a busy kick off in Cerro Gordo County. "For the presidential election we typically see, for in person voting, 25, 30, to maybe 40 people a day. The first day we saw 175, that was last Thursday," said Cerro Gordo County Auditor Ken Kline.

As of Monday night nearly 3,000 ballots were collected in the county alone, and we're told hundreds more poured in Tuesday, but which party is in the lead so far?

"The Democrats have a strong lead as far as who has requested absentee ballots. Obviously we don't know how many people may have actually cast those ballots," said Kline.

Though registered for a party, voters can still go either way. For now, the Democratic party says, they'll take it. "I think it means that there's a great deal of momentum. That volunteers have jumped on board and their very excited about doing this for all the candidates and their excited about reelecting president Obama," said Senator Amana Ragan, (D) Iowa.

Though early voting isn't an “end all.” It can all change on election day. The Republican Party hasn't lost a bit of confidence, pointing out previous years where things switched directions.

"In 2004 Bush versus Kerry, the Democrats out did us in early voting and then we out did them on election day and won that election too," said Tom Szold with the Iowa Republican National Committee.

Republicans say it's all about strategy. "The Democrats put more resources and more focus on early voting. We think it’s important and we are pushing it. However, above all else we want to focus on communicating with voters and that’s exactly what we’re doing a lot of," said Szold.

However, with nearly two-thirds of the votes in Cerro Gordo County, it certainly looks to be a good start for Democrats. "We hope that this is just the beginning. We see it all across the state," said Senator Ragan.

Again, those numbers are just from Cerro Gordo County. However, we've seen this same trend all over Iowa. Of course, there's still a long way to go. Early ballots won't be opened until the night of the election.