Bills › 91st General Assembly

SF 541Died when the session ended · March 6, 2025

Relating to the administration of elections

Sponsored by the Senate State Government Committee

Proposed by the Secretary of State · their explanation · all agency proposals

Topics:Elections & votingState government

Same legislation: SSB 1130

Where it is now

  1. Done: IntroducedFebruary 17, 2025
  2. Done: SubcommitteeFebruary 17, 2025
  3. Done: Senate committeeMarch 5, 2025
  4. Stopped: Passes the SenateDied when the General Assembly ended
  5. Next: House committeeFunnel: by March 20, 2026
  6. Next: Passes the House
  7. Next: To the Governor
  8. Next: Signed into law

Died when the session ended The General Assembly adjourned on October 2, 2026. Bills that didn’t pass both chambers died. What’s a funnel?

What’s in it

This bill relates to the administration of elections. The bill requires absentee ballot materials to include the voter’s four-digit personal identification number instead of the voter’s voter identification number. The bill prohibits special elections from being held on the first, second, or third Tuesdays preceding and following city or school elections. The bill requires a county commissioner of elections to inform the county sheriff if an acknowledgment of election day and in-person absentee registration form sent by the commissioner does not receive a response from the voter.

Read the full explanation

The bill also requires voter registration records, including voter registration forms, to be maintained on the statewide voter registration system. The bill strikes a provision allowing election officials to electronically transmit results from voting equipment to the county commissioner of elections’ office after producing a written report of the election results, including provisions relating to the approval of associated devices and the adoption of administrative rules for associated procedures. The bill changes the length of time that a county commissioner of elections must maintain election records for elections in which federal offices are not on the ballot from months to months or until the completion of an election contest, whichever is later. Material pertaining to elections for federal offices is maintained for months under current law. The bill strikes a requirement that nomination papers for primary election candidates for state and county offices be destroyed days before the general election if a contest is not pending. The bill removes the first and second Monday following an election as a possible day for conducting a first or second canvass of an election, respectively. on election day for the counting of absentee ballots. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to prescribe the form of the pledge signed by presidential elector nominees and alternate elector nominees. The bill changes the signature requirement for a written protest of a city budget from a number of registered voters equal to one-fourth of percent of the votes cast for governor in the last preceding general election in the city to a number of registered voters equal to one-fourth of percent of the population of the city according to the most recent federal decennial census or special census, whichever is later. The bill also strikes an alternative minimum number of signatures and an alternative maximum number of signatures.

From the explanation printed with the bill as introduced, written by the Legislative Services Agency. Amendments adopted later aren’t reflected. Full bill text

Senate subcommittee

Named February 17, 2025 (as SSB 1130). On February 20, 2025 it recommended passage.

Three legislators hear a bill first and recommend what the committee should do; it’s the best time to weigh in. How to take part

Iowa Code it changes

Amends§260C.15§384.19§39.2§43.49§46.24§48A.26A§48A.37§50.11§50.12§50.19§50.21§50.24§50.9§53.10§53.2§53.23§54.5§9E.6

Repeals§52.41

Read from the bill as introduced. Each links to every bill touching that chapter of the Iowa Code. How the Code works

Lobbying

2 for · 0 against · 6 undecided · Who →

Family tree

Where this legislation came from and where it went: earlier tries, the versions it moved through this Assembly, and later bills built on it.

Earlier and later bills are matched by wording or an identical title; check the text to be sure it’s the same idea.

Tried before

This idea has been filed in an earlier General Assembly. A version became law.

  • HF 2466 Relating to the administration of elections
    90th General Assembly · Signed by Governor · same title
    Became law
  • SF 2376 Relating to the administration of elections
    90th General Assembly · Withdrawn · same title
    Didn’t advance

Matched by the wording of each bill’s explanation, or an identical title. Companion bills and renumbered versions of this bill aren’t listed; they’re the same bill.