Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa relating to elections for the recall of elected officials

R. This joint resolution proposes an amendment to the Constitution of the State of Iowa relating to recall elections for elected officials. The amendment allows the electors of the state, a legislative district, or a county to call for the recall of an elected official after the first year of the elected official’s term. The amendment requires the electors to submit a petition signed by electors equaling at least percent of the votes cast for the office of governor in the last preceding election in the relevant area. Upon receipt of the petition, the official with whom nomination petitions for the office are filed shall call a recall election on the sixth Tuesday following filing of the petition. The incumbent shall continue to perform the incumbent’s duties until the results of the recall election are officially declared. Unless the incumbent declines within days, the incumbent shall be deemed to have filed to participate in the election. The amendment provides for recall primary elections when more than two persons file to compete in a recall election for a nonpartisan office and for each recall election for a partisan office. In a recall primary for a nonpartisan office, if one candidate receives a majority of the total number of votes cast, that candidate shall assume the office and a recall election shall not be held. Otherwise, whichever candidate receives the highest number of votes in a recall election shall be elected for the remainder of the original incumbent’s term. The amendment prohibits more than one recall election from being called against a given elected official in a single term. The resolution, if adopted, would be published and then referred to the next general assembly (91st) for adoption, before being submitted to the electorate for ratification.