House File 470 - Introduced
HOUSE FILE 470
BY COMMITTEE ON STATE
GOVERNMENT
(SUCCESSOR TO HF 356)
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to the conduct of elections, including
2 provisions related to absentee ballots, recounts, and
3 contested gubernatorial elections and impeachments,
4 making penalties applicable, and including effective date
5 provisions.
6 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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1 Section 1. Section 43.56, subsection 1, paragraph c, Code
2 2023, is amended to read as follows:
3 c. A third person mutually agreeable to the board members
4 designated by the candidates One person who is a precinct
5 election official selected by the chief judge of the judicial
6 district in which the canvass occurs at or before the time the
7 board is required to convene.
8 Sec. 2. Section 43.78, subsection 5, paragraph b, Code 2023,
9 is amended to read as follows:
10 b. In the office of the appropriate commissioner, at least
11 sixty-four sixty-seven days before the date of the election.
12 Sec. 3. Section 43.92, Code 2023, is amended to read as
13 follows:
14 43.92 Date of caucus published.
15 1. The date, time, and place of each precinct caucus of a
16 political party shall be published at least twice in at least
17 one newspaper of general circulation in the precinct. The
18 first publication shall be made not more than fifteen days nor
19 less than seven days before the date of the caucus and the
20 second shall be made not more than seven days before and not
21 later than the date of the caucus. Such publication shall
22 also state in substance that each voter affiliated with the
23 specified political party may attend the precinct caucus.
24 Publication in a news item or advertisement in such newspaper
25 shall constitute publication for the purposes of this section.
26 The cost of such publication, if any, shall be paid by the
27 political party.
28 2. a. In lieu of the requirement to publish a notice in a
29 newspaper of general circulation in the precinct, a political
30 party may publish the notice in its entirety on the political
31 party’s internet site, if the political party maintains an
32 internet site. The notice shall include all information
33 otherwise required to be contained in the publication and
34 shall comply with all requirements relating to the date of
35 publication.
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1 b. In posting and maintaining a notice on a political
2 party’s internet site, the political party shall satisfy all
3 of the following requirements:
4 (1) The internet site shall be available and easily
5 accessible at all times by the public.
6 (2) The public shall not be charged for access to any notice
7 posted on the internet site pursuant to this subsection.
8 (3) The notice shall be maintained and accessible through
9 the same internet site address for as long as required by law
10 or as long as such information is customarily maintained by the
11 political party, whichever is longer.
12 c. Compliance with the requirements of this subsection
13 shall constitute compliance with the newspaper publication
14 requirements in subsection 1.
15 Sec. 4. Section 48A.14, Code 2023, is amended by adding the
16 following new subsection:
17 NEW SUBSECTION. 6. A challenger shall post a bond at the
18 time of filing a challenge in an amount to be determined by
19 the commissioner that is sufficient to cover the costs of
20 verifying the registration of the challenged registrant. If
21 the commissioner determines that the challenged registrant’s
22 registration is invalid, the bond shall be returned to the
23 challenger. In all other cases, the bond shall be deposited in
24 the election fund of the county of the commissioner with whom
25 it was filed.
26 Sec. 5. Section 49.53, subsection 1, Code 2023, is amended
27 to read as follows:
28 1. The commissioner shall not less than four nor more
29 than twenty thirty days before the day of each election,
30 except those for which different publication requirements are
31 prescribed by law, publish notice of the election. The notice
32 shall list the names of all candidates or nominees and the
33 office each seeks, and all public questions, to be voted upon
34 at the election. The notice shall also state the date of the
35 election, the hours the polls will be open, that each voter is
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1 required to provide identification at the polling place before
2 the voter can receive and cast a ballot, the location of each
3 polling place at which voting is to occur in the election, and
4 the names of the precincts voting at each polling place, the
5 date the election will be audited pursuant to section 50.51,
6 the location of the audit, and the hours during which the
7 election will be audited. The notice shall include the full
8 text of all public measures to be voted upon at the election.
9 The notice may contain one or more facsimiles of the portion of
10 the ballot containing the first arrangement of candidates as
11 prescribed by section 49.31, subsection 2.
12 Sec. 6. NEW SECTION. 49.76A Electronic election register.
13 1. The commissioner may use an electronic election register
14 in lieu of a paper register if the electronic election register
15 is a product that has been certified for use in this state by
16 the state commissioner.
17 2. The state commissioner shall adopt rules pursuant to
18 chapter 17A for the implementation of this section.
19 Sec. 7. Section 50.11, subsection 1, Code 2023, is amended
20 to read as follows:
21 1. When the canvass is completed one of the precinct
22 election officials shall, upon request of a person at the
23 precinct, publicly announce the total number of votes received
24 by each of the persons voted for, the office for which the
25 person is designated, as announced by the designated tally
26 keepers, and the number of votes for, and the number of votes
27 against, any proposition which shall have been submitted to a
28 vote of the people. A precinct election official may, at the
29 request of the commissioner who is conducting the election,
30 communicate the election results by telephone and shall deliver
31 the election results in person pursuant to section 50.14 to the
32 commissioner who is conducting the election immediately upon
33 completion of the canvass.
34 Sec. 8. Section 50.12, Code 2023, is amended to read as
35 follows:
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1 50.12 Return and preservation of ballots.
2 Immediately after making the proclamation, and before
3 separating, the board members of each precinct in which votes
4 have been received by paper ballot shall enclose in an envelope
5 or other container all ballots which have been counted by them,
6 except those endorsed “Rejected as double”, “Defective”, or
7 “Objected to”, and securely seal the envelope. The signatures
8 of all board members of the precinct shall be placed across
9 the seal or the opening of the container so that it cannot
10 be opened without breaking the seal. The precinct election
11 officials shall return all the ballots to the commissioner,
12 who shall carefully preserve them for six months. Ballots
13 from elections for federal offices shall be preserved for
14 twenty-two months. The sealed packages containing voted
15 ballots shall be opened only for an official recount authorized
16 by section 50.48, or 50.49, or 50.50, for an election contest
17 held pursuant to chapters 57 through 62, to conduct an audit
18 pursuant to section 50.50 or 50.51, or to destroy the ballots
19 pursuant to section 50.19.
20 Sec. 9. Section 50.15A, Code 2023, is amended to read as
21 follows:
22 50.15A Unofficial results of voting —— general election only.
23 1. In order to provide the public with an early source
24 of election results before the official canvass of votes,
25 the state commissioner of elections, in cooperation with the
26 commissioners of elections, shall conduct an unofficial canvass
27 of election results following the closing of the polls on
28 the day of a regular city election, regular school election,
29 primary election, and general election. The unofficial
30 canvass shall report election results for national offices,
31 statewide offices, the office of state representative, the
32 office of state senator, and other offices or public measures
33 at the discretion of the state commissioner of elections.
34 The unofficial canvass shall also report the total number of
35 ballots cast at the general election.
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1 2. a. After the polls close on election day, the
2 commissioner of elections shall periodically provide election
3 results to the state commissioner of elections as the precincts
4 in the county report election results to the commissioner
5 pursuant to section 50.11. If the commissioner determines
6 that all precincts will not report election results before
7 the office is closed, the commissioner shall report the most
8 complete results available prior to leaving the office at the
9 time the office is closed as provided in section 50.11. The
10 commissioner shall specify the number of precincts included in
11 the report to the state commissioner of elections and provide
12 an explanation in writing as to why all precincts will not be
13 reported.
14 b. The state commissioner of elections shall tabulate
15 unofficial election results as the results are received from
16 the commissioners of elections and shall periodically make the
17 reports of the results available to the public.
18 3. Before the day of the general election, the state
19 commissioner of elections shall provide a form and instructions
20 for reporting unofficial election results pursuant to this
21 section.
22 Sec. 10. Section 50.24, subsections 1 and 4, Code 2023, are
23 amended to read as follows:
24 1. The county board of supervisors shall meet to canvass
25 the vote on the first Monday or Tuesday after the day of
26 each election to which this chapter is applicable, unless
27 the law authorizing the election specifies another date for
28 the canvass. If that Monday or Tuesday is a public holiday,
29 section 4.1, subsection 34, controls.
30 4. For a regular or special city election or a city runoff
31 election, if the city is located in more than one county, the
32 controlling commissioner for that city under section 47.2 shall
33 conduct a second canvass on the second Monday or Tuesday after
34 the day of the election. However, if a recount is requested
35 pursuant to section 50.48, the controlling commissioner shall
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1 conduct the second canvass within two business days after the
2 conclusion of the recount proceedings. Each commissioner
3 conducting a canvass for the city pursuant to subsection 1
4 shall transmit abstracts for the offices and public measures of
5 that city to the controlling commissioner for that city, along
6 with individual tallies for each write-in candidate. At the
7 second canvass, the county board of supervisors of the county
8 of the controlling commissioner shall canvass the abstracts
9 received pursuant to this subsection and shall prepare a
10 combined city abstract stating the number of votes cast in the
11 city for each office and on each question on the ballot for
12 the city election. The combined city abstract shall further
13 indicate the name of each person who received votes for each
14 office on the ballot, the number of votes each person named
15 received for that office, and the number of votes for and
16 against each question submitted to the voters at the election.
17 The votes of all write-in candidates who each received less
18 than five percent of the total votes cast in the city for
19 an office shall be reported collectively under the heading
20 “scattering”.
21 Sec. 11. Section 50.24, subsection 5, paragraph a, Code
22 2023, is amended to read as follows:
23 a. For a regular or special school election, if the school
24 district is located in more than one county, the controlling
25 commissioner for that school district under section 47.2 shall
26 conduct a second canvass on the second Monday or Tuesday after
27 the day of election. However, if a recount is requested
28 pursuant to section 50.48, the controlling commissioner shall
29 conduct the second canvass within two business days after the
30 conclusion of the recount proceedings. Each commissioner
31 conducting a canvass for the school district pursuant to
32 subsection 1 shall transmit abstracts for the offices and
33 public measures of that school district to the controlling
34 commissioner for that school district, along with individual
35 tallies for each write-in candidate. At the second canvass the
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1 county board of supervisors of the controlling county shall
2 canvass the abstracts received pursuant to this subsection and
3 shall prepare a combined school district abstract stating the
4 number of votes cast in the school district for each office and
5 on each question on the ballot for the school election. The
6 combined school district abstract shall further indicate the
7 name of each person who received votes for each office on the
8 ballot, the number of votes each person named received for that
9 office, and the number of votes for and against each question
10 submitted to the voters at the election. The votes of all
11 write-in candidates who each received less than five percent of
12 the total votes cast in the school district for an office shall
13 be reported collectively under the heading “scattering”.
14 Sec. 12. Section 50.48, subsection 1, paragraphs a and b,
15 Code 2023, are amended to read as follows:
16 a. The county board of canvassers shall order a recount of
17 the votes cast for a particular office or nomination in one
18 or more specified all election precincts in that county if a
19 written request for a recount is made not later than 5:00 p.m.
20 on the third second day following the county board’s canvass
21 of the election in question. For a city runoff election held
22 pursuant to section 376.9, the written request must be made not
23 later than 5:00 p.m. on the day following the county board’s
24 canvass of the city runoff election. A written request for a
25 recount shall indicate whether the recount shall be conducted
26 only using automatic tabulating equipment or by a hand recount
27 following the use of automatic tabulating equipment. If a
28 candidate requests a hand recount in one county, the candidate
29 shall also request a hand recount in each county at which the
30 candidate requests a recount. The request shall be filed with
31 the commissioner of that county and shall be signed by either
32 of the following:
33 (1) A candidate for that office or nomination whose name
34 was printed on the a ballot of the precinct or precincts in the
35 county where the recount is requested.
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1 (2) Any other person who receives votes for that particular
2 office or nomination in the precinct or precincts county where
3 the recount is requested and who is legally qualified to seek
4 and to hold the office in question.
5 b. Immediately upon receipt of a request for a recount,
6 the commissioner shall send a copy of the request to the
7 apparent winner by certified mail and the state commissioner
8 by electronic mail. The commissioner shall also attempt to
9 contact the apparent winner by telephone. If the apparent
10 winner cannot be reached within four three days, the
11 chairperson of the political party or organization which
12 nominated the apparent winner shall be contacted and shall act
13 on behalf of the apparent winner, if necessary. For candidates
14 for state or federal offices, the chairperson of the state
15 party shall be contacted. For candidates for county offices,
16 the county chairperson of the party shall be contacted.
17 Sec. 13. Section 50.48, subsection 2, Code 2023, is amended
18 by adding the following new paragraph:
19 NEW PARAGRAPH. c. (1) Upon receipt of a written request
20 for a hand recount involving a state office, including a seat
21 in