Relating to the conduct of state and local elections, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions

The bill provides that such publication shall satisfy the constitutional requirement that proposed amendments be published prior to the election of the second general assembly to pass the proposed amendment. The bill directs the secretary of state to endeavor to publish proposed amendments in two newspapers of general circulation but removes the requirement that the secretary do so. The bill allows the full text of a proposed constitutional amendment to be posted in the voting booth rather than on the ballot. The bill repeals a Code section explicitly granting a taxpayer the authority to intervene in an action to test the constitutionality of a proposed amendment to the Iowa Constitution. DIVISION II —— ISSUANCE OF BONDS. This division of the bill relates to the issuance of bonds. The bill requires a public measure to approve the issuance of bonds to include on the ballot the current property tax levy, the term of the bond, and the average increase or decrease in the cost of a home in each county voting on the bond, as well as the average of such averages, according to data provided by the United States census bureau. DIVISION III —— SELF-PROMOTION WITH TAXPAYER FUNDS. This division of the bill relates to the prohibition on using taxpayer funds for self-promotion. The bill defines “direct mass mailing” for the purposes of the prohibition as a mailing the purpose of which is to promote a person or idea sent by a statewide elected official that is delivered by a mail service, sent to more than two hundred addresses, is substantially similar as regards each mailing, and all of which mailings are sent at the same time or within days of each other. DIVISION IV —— HOSPITAL BOARD OF TRUSTEES ELECTIONS. This division relates to elections for hospital boards of trustees. The bill provides that trustees in a county with a population of at least 400,000 shall serve for terms of six years. A trustee elected to a term of four years in or after January 2018 shall instead serve a term of six years. The bill allows a board of trustees to fill vacancies on the board through appointment at any time. Current law limits a board’s appointment powers to until the next general election. The bill provides for staggered terms of service for trustees elected in 2022. DIVISION V —— TECHNICAL CHANGES. This division of the bill relates to technical changes to the election laws of Iowa. The bill eliminates the second Tuesday in December as a possible date for a special election on a public measure in a school district or merged area in an even-numbered year. The bill also eliminates the first Tuesday in December as a possible date for a special election on a public measure in a city in an even-numbered year. The bill makes the false or fraudulent signing of nomination papers on behalf of another person and the misuse of voter registration information election misconduct in the second degree. Under current law, misuse of voter registration information is election misconduct in the third degree. A person who commits election misconduct in the second degree is guilty of an aggravated misdemeanor. An aggravated misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than two years and a fine of at least $625 but not more than $6,250. The bill permits the state commissioner of elections to require a written explanation from a county commissioner who has been issued a notice of technical infraction. Such an explanation must contain measures the county commissioner took to redress the issues in the notice. The bill requires a person circulating a petition for nomination to include that person’s name, signature, address, and phone number. The bill also specifies that a signature line must contain a signer’s residential address. The bill prohibits a signature line from being counted if the signature line contains a partial address or a post office box address, or if any of the required information is crossed out or redacted at the time of filing.18 (affidavit of candidacy).24 is pending. Current law requires the state commissioner to issue such a certificate at least days before a primary election. The bill permits objections to be filed to certificates of nomination for candidates to replace candidates who have died or withdrawn their nomination. The bill permits the state commissioner to examine election security assessments conducted or authorized by government or private entities. Such information retains its confidential status. The bill also permits the state commissioner to share information provided by a county to an appropriate government agency to safeguard against cybersecurity or physical threats and to adopt rules for minimum security standards to which county commissioners must adhere. The state commissioner may limit access to the statewide voter registration system if a county commissioner fails to meet these standards. The bill requires a county commissioner of elections to report to the state commissioner of elections when the county commissioner believes that a cybersecurity incident or data breach has occurred. The bill also requires a county commissioner to report to the state commissioner on an annual basis if the county commissioner has no reason to believe that a cybersecurity incident or data breach has occurred. The bill requires the state registrar of voters to adopt rules regarding access to the statewide voter registration system and training requirements, technology safeguards, and breach incident response requirements. on the day registration closes for an election. The bill changes the time frame for the state commissioner of elections to send an acknowledgment of receipt of a voter registration form or change of information, if that form was submitted within days of a regularly scheduled election, from within days to within hours.14. The bill allows the state commissioner of elections to prescribe, and county commissioners of elections to place on ballots, uniform abbreviations for political parties and organizations. The bill allows abbreviations for the names of political parties and organizations to be used on the remainder of the ballot if the full name and abbreviation appear in the voter instruction portion of the ballot. The bill allows the state commissioner of elections to adopt rules to establish pilot programs related to post-election audits. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to adopt rules for the implementation of the absentee voting system. The bill moves the first day to mail absentee ballots to the first business day on which mail delivery is available following the 29th day before an election in the event that the United States post office is closed and not delivering mail on the 29th day before an election. The division takes effect upon enactment. DIVISION VI —— 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 VII —— NOMINATIONS BY PETITION. This division alters the number of signatures required for a person to obtain a nomination by petition. DIVISION VIII —— CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS. This division of the bill relates to the conduct of elections. The bill alters the list of possible dates for elections held by counties, cities, school districts, and merged areas. The bill provides that a person who holds an elective office and wins an election for a second office shall automatically vacate the first office if the person does not vacate one of the offices. The bill prohibits a person who seeks the nomination of a political party for election to a certain office but loses the nomination from being eligible for election to that office in the next general election for that office. The bill requires a ballot to include the county seal and prohibits the commissioner’s name from appearing on the ballot unless the commissioner is a candidate. The bill alters the deadlines for filing a nomination petition, withdrawing a nomination, and filling a ballot vacancy. If a vacancy occurs on a ballot due to the death of a candidate after the date for filling a vacancy until the time the polls close on election day, the election for that office shall not be canvassed and the office shall be filled by a special election. The bill changes the filing deadline for nomination papers of persons seeking to be a nonparty political organization’s candidate for elected office. The bill changes the deadlines for filing nomination papers and objections to the same deadline that is applied to persons seeking to be a political party’s candidate for elected office. The bill prohibits a county commissioner of elections from participating in an absentee ballot drive or collection effort in cooperation with a candidate, candidate’s committee, political party, or nonparty political organization. The bill requires county commissioners of elections to ensure that each election precinct uses an electronic poll book by February 26, 2020. The bill moves the voter registration deadline for all elections other than general elections from days before an election to days before an election. The voter registration deadline for general elections is currently days before the election. The bill does not affect election day voter registration. The bill allows the state commissioner of elections to oversee the activities of county commissioners of elections during a period beginning days prior to an election and ending days after an election. The bill prohibits county commissioners of elections and the state commissioner of elections from distributing sample ballots to voters other than as required by the Code. The bill changes the circumstances under which and places at which a county commissioner of elections may create a satellite voting location. The bill requires the county commissioner of elections to remove or obscure from public view any material displaying the name of a candidate or elected official other than a ballot or sample ballot.m. The bill requires that the opening and closing times for polling places be placed on the internet site of the legislative services agency, voter identification cards, and property tax statements. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to transmit a certified copy of a constitutional amendment or public measure and a sample ballot to each county commissioner of elections days before an election at which a constitutional amendment or public measure is to be submitted to a vote of the entire people of the state. Current law requires such certified copies and sample ballots to be sent days before the election. The bill requires any election other than a presidential election 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. The bill grants local law enforcement agencies and the state patrol the authority to take all reasonable actions to prevent violations of Code chapter (canvass of votes). The bill requires a county commissioner of elections who receives an incomplete absentee ballot request to inform the applicant within hours of receipt of the request by telephone or electronic mail if such information was provided, and by mail if such information was not provided. The bill prohibits a county commissioner of elections from using the voter registration system to obtain additional necessary information. The bill allows a county commissioner of elections to verify the identity of an applicant for an absentee ballot who cannot access the applicant’s voter verification number by asking for at least two of the following from the applicant: date of birth, the last four digits of the applicant’s social security number, residential address, mailing address, and middle name. The bill requires a county commissioner of elections to verify the identity of a person voting absentee in person in the same manner as a poll worker verifying the identity of a person voting at the polls on election day.78. The bill changes the process by which absentee ballots lacking a signature or appearing to have been signed by someone other than the registered voter 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. 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 or appears to have been signed by someone other than the registered voter. The bill alters the timeline for contesting a gubernatorial election and the makeup of a contest court for such a challenge. The bill requires that all absentee ballots be received prior to the time the polls close on election day. An absentee ballot received after this deadline shall not be counted. The bill prohibits a person from placing on any published material a name or abbreviation of a name intended to cause a voter to believe that the person represents a political party or nonparty political organization of which the person is not a candidate. 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 IX —— CONFLICTS OF INTEREST. This division relates to interests in certain contracts held by certain county employees. The bill repeals the prohibition on elected or appointed county employees holding an interest in a contract for the construction, reconstruction, improvement, or maintenance of any highway, bridge, or culvert, or the furnishing of materials therefor.12. The division takes effect March 18, 2021. DIVISION X —— VOTER REGISTRATION. This division of the bill relates to voter registration. The bill instructs the state registrar of voters to develop a form to be distributed to and completed by each student graduating from a regents university prior to receiving a diploma. The student shall indicate on the form whether the student will reside in Iowa after graduation. Any student indicating that the student will reside outside Iowa after graduation shall be removed from the statewide voter registration system unless the student plans to vote in Iowa pursuant to Code chapter 53, subchapter II. The bill alters the process for removing inactive voter registration records. The bill requires a county commissioner of elections to, during the January immediately following each presidential election, mark as inactive the voter registration record of a voter who did not vote in the presidential election and who has not registered again, reported a change to an existing registration, and whose name was not reported by the national change of address program. The county commissioner shall also send a notice and return card to each such voter. The commissioner shall send a second notice in April to each person who does not respond to the first notice. The commissioner shall cancel the voter registration of a person who does not respond to a notice by July 1. The bill sets the cost of receiving a voter registration and participation report from the state registrar of voters at $250. Under current law, the state registrar of voters shall charge a person requesting such a report the cost of preparing the report. The bill requires each county commissioner of registration to submit a report on voter list maintenance activities annually to the state registrar of voters. The state registrar of voters shall publish such reports on the internet site of the state registrar of voters. DIVISION XI —— BALLOT ORDER. This division relates to the order in which candidates appear on a ballot. The division requires county commissioners of elections to arrange ballots such that the candidates of the two political parties receiving the highest number of votes shall each appear first on the ballot for one gubernatorial election and one presidential election in an eight-year period. The candidates of a party appearing first on the ballot in half of the counties in Iowa shall appear second on the ballot in the other half of the counties. DIVISION XII —— MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS. This division of the bill makes technical changes to Code provisions relating to municipal elections.