Relating to the conduct of elections, and making penalties applicable

This bill relates to the conduct of elections. The bill makes the day of the general election, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each even-numbered year, a legal public holiday. The bill also makes election day a paid holiday for state employees. The bill requires that each ballot include a unique code or other identifier to distinguish genuine ballots from counterfeit ballots. The bill prohibits a ballot from being counted if it does not include a unique code or other identifier that has not been previously included on a cast ballot. The bill alters the groups of voters who may cast an absentee ballot. The bill allows a voter to cast an absentee ballot only if the voter will be absent on election day during the time the polls are open from the precinct in which the voter is a registered voter due to a responsibility related to the person’s employment; the voter will be prevented from going to the polls and voting on election day due to illness, age, or physical disability; or the voter expects to be unable to go to the polls and vote on election day because the voter is a member of the military. The bill prohibits a candidate for public office or a candidate’s committee from accepting contributions of greater than $1 from a person not living in or incorporated or organized under the laws of this state. The bill states the general assembly’s recognition that persons who are not residents of Iowa have the right to free speech under the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States and may have a passing interest in elections in Iowa but that the general assembly finds that it is in the best interest of the residents of Iowa for elections in Iowa to be influenced and funded by residents of Iowa. By operation of law, a person who willfully violates this provision of the bill is guilty of a serious misdemeanor. A serious misdemeanor is punishable by confinement for no more than one year and a fine of at least $430 but not more than $2,560. The bill imposes campaign contribution limits on candidates for public office. In an election campaign cycle, a person shall not contribute to a candidate, and the candidate shall not accept, more than $100.701, guilty of a serious misdemeanor.32D for a violation of the bill relating to campaign finance, ranging from a reprimand to a civil penalty of not more than $2,000.