HSB 545

This bill relates to the conduct of elections. The bill requires all petitions relating to any elective office, election, or the administration of elections to include the printed name, signature, address, and phone number of the person responsible for circulating each page of the petition. The bill requires all ballots to include the seal of the county auditor of the county of the county commissioner of elections responsible for printing the ballot. 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. 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. _____ from the voter. 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. The bill takes effect upon enactment.