Relating to voting and the administration of elections, and including effective date provisions

The seal of the county auditor shall contain the name of the county, the word “county”, and the word “Iowa”, and may contain the word “auditor”. The seal shall not contain the name of the auditor or any elected official. The bill allows a county commissioner of registration to cancel a voter’s registration if the commissioner receives notice of the voter’s death from the federal social security administration. The bill sets the date for the drawing of lots for the arrangement of candidates on a nonpartisan ballot to the sixty-eighth day prior to the general election. The bill adds provisions regarding the safeguarding of confidential information to the oath taken by precinct election officials and requires the state commissioner to provide training on the handling of confidential information to such officials. The bill requires a voter who is attesting to the identity of a registered voter who is unable to produce voter identification to first provide proof of the attesting voter’s identity. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to order election audits prior to all elections other than general elections. The bill requires a county commissioner of elections who receives an incomplete application for an absentee ballot to contact the voter and obtain the missing information directly from the voter. A county commissioner of elections shall only use the voter registration system to obtain such information if all other methods have been exhausted. The bill removes a provision allowing a county commissioner of elections to obtain such information by the best means available. The bill allows a registered voter who becomes a patient, tenant, or resident of a hospital, assisted living program, or health care facility in the county where the voter is registered to vote after the deadline for making a written application for an absentee ballot to request an absentee ballot during that period, including election day. Current law allows a person who becomes so confined within three days prior to the date of an election to request an absentee ballot. The bill removes a special deadline for the receipt of petitions for ballot propositions to approve the conduct of gambling games in a county. The bill requires such petitions to be submitted as required for other petitions. The bill changes the withdrawal deadline for candidates for school district office from days before the election to days before the election. The bill repeals a section of 2017 Iowa Acts, chapter 155, that was not codified and is inconsistent with current law. The bill removes a provision making the willful false swearing of an affidavit a fraudulent practice. Such conduct remains election misconduct in the first degree. DIVISION II —— PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT PROCEDURES. This division of the bill relates to the process for amending the Iowa constitution. The bill requires the commissioner of elections to summarize proposed constitutional amendments and public measures and to post the full text of such proposed constitutional amendments and public measures within voting booths. Current law allows the commissioner of elections to summarize proposed constitutional amendments and public measures. DIVISION III —— MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. This division of the bill relates to various changes to the Code. The bill changes the rate of compensation for presidential electors from $5 per day to one-half of the per diem rate set by the federal general services administration. The bill changes the time at which the senate shall organize as a court of impeachment from forthwith after the hour of final adjournment to as soon as practicable. The bill also changes the rate of compensation for members serving on a court of impeachment to the same rate as for members serving in a special session of the general assembly if the general assembly is not in regular session. If the general assembly is in regular session, the bill provides that members shall receive no additional compensation. DIVISION IV —— CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS. This division of the bill relates to the conduct of elections. The bill alters the deadlines for filing a nomination petition, withdrawing a nomination, and filling a ballot vacancy. The bill makes technical changes to the provisions of law governing the content of notices of elections. The bill requires any election other than a presidential election or an election for a nonpartisan office that results in a tie to go to a special election. A tied election for president shall result in the electors being split between the candidates. The bill allows a candidate requesting a recount to request the presence of a county commissioner of elections from another county at the recount. Such a commissioner may report any irregularities observed by the commissioner at any time after the election to the state commissioner of elections. The bill requires a recount for an election other than a statewide election to include all precincts in which a ballot for the contested election was cast.78. The bill changes the process by which absentee ballots lacking a signature are verified. on the Friday before any other election, the county commissioner of elections must contact the voter within hours and inform the voter how to remediate the ballot. A ballot received after the applicable deadline is sent to the absentee and special voters precinct board for review. If the absentee and special voters precinct board determines that the affidavit is incomplete, the commissioner shall inform the voter within hours how the ballot may be remediated if the ballot lacks a signature. The bill alters the timeline for contesting a gubernatorial election and the makeup of a contest court for such a challenge. The bill alters the timeline for holding a special election to fill a vacant office and prohibits a person who has ever been removed from office from being appointed to fill a vacancy. DIVISION V —— CANDIDATES FOR PUBLIC OFFICE. This division prohibits a person who files an affidavit of candidacy to be a partisan candidate for an office in an election from filing an affidavit of candidacy to be a candidate for a nonparty political organization or to be nominated by petition for the same office in the same election. on the 69th day before the date of the general election. DIVISION VI —— VOTING RIGHTS OF CERTAIN CONVICTED PERSONS. This division makes restoration of the right to register to vote and to vote automatic upon a person’s release from probation, parole, or work release. By operation of law, persons whose rights have been restored are eligible to run for elective office. The bill requires the department of corrections or the judicial district department of correctional services to provide written notice upon discharge from confinement or supervision that a person’s voting rights are restored and that the person must provide written notice of discharge when registering to vote. The notice shall also include a voter registration form. DIVISION VII —— FELON VOTER DATABASE MAINTENANCE. This division relates to the database of persons prohibited from voting or registering to vote due to conviction of a felony. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to verify the accuracy of the database before the first day on which absentee ballots may be mailed for each general election, and to have verified the accuracy of percent of the database by July of each year. After verifying the database, the state commissioner of elections must submit a report to the general assembly by the first week of the next regular session of the general assembly regarding errors in the database. The bill requires the judicial branch to cooperate in verification efforts. The bill requires a county commissioner of elections who discovers that a person’s voter registration has erroneously been canceled due to an error in the felon voter database to inform the person of the error, and to reinstate the person’s registration at the last-known address of the person if the address is within the county of the county commissioner of elections. DIVISION VIII —— ELECTION SYSTEMS SECURITY. This division relates to election systems security. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to adopt rules requiring county commissioners of elections to take certain actions relating to election security, including using services provided by the United States department of homeland security, using certain third-party security services and guides, and requiring background checks for certain employees and contractors. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to ensure that all computers used by the state commissioner of elections and employees are fully updated, implement multifactor authentication for all web-based applications available to election officials, required usage of intrusion detection devices by all counties, and investigate implementation of security information and event management services for elections-related computer and network systems.3.2, subsection 3, which would relieve a political subdivision from complying with a state mandate if funding for the cost of the state mandate is not provided or specified. Therefore, political subdivisions are required to comply with any state mandate included in the division. DIVISION IX —— EFFECTIVE DATE. The bill takes effect upon enactment.