John Olsen is an Iowa transplant from the East Coast. Olsen has been a voting rights advocate for 30 years, however, only just joined the League of Women Voters of Metro Des Moines in 2018.  Olsen is also an active member of the Des Moines Branch of the NAACP, currently chairing the civic engagement committee. 

Explaining that John is obsessed with registering voters is an understatement. Every election day, Olsen spends his day working as an election official at a polling site.  Olsen’s background includes stints as a retail manager of political memorabilia stores, a substitute teacher, and an educational coach.  He is also an avid collector of political memorabilia and owns the nation’s largest collection of non-partisan “Get Out The Vote” items.  In the collecting world and political circles around the State of Iowa, Olsen is most well-known as his alter ego, Dr. Vote. If you see him out and about in his Dr. Vote ensemble, be sure to say hi! However, be ready for the all important question, “Are you registered to vote?”