HF 56 (LSB 1499HH (4) 88)

HOUSE FILE 56

BY  McKEAN

A BILL FOR

An Act providing for the nonpartisan election and nomination by county primary election of county officers.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 39.21, Code 2019, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  5.  The county officers described in sections 39.17 and 39.18.
    Sec. 2.  Section 43.6, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   43.6  Nomination of U.S. senators, and state and county officers.
   1.  Candidates for the office of senator in the Congress of the United States, and the offices listed in section 39.9, county supervisor, and the offices listed in section 39.17 shall be nominated in the year preceding the expiration of the term of office of the incumbent.
   1.  2.  When a vacancy occurs in the office of senator in the Congress of the United States, secretary of state, auditor of state, treasurer of state, secretary of agriculture, or attorney general and section 69.13 requires that the vacancy be filled for the balance of the unexpired term at a general election, candidates for the office shall be nominated in the preceding primary election if the vacancy occurs eighty-nine or more days before the date of that primary election. If the vacancy occurs less than one hundred four days before the date of that primary election, the state commissioner shall accept nomination papers for that office only until 5:00 p.m. on the seventy-fourth day before the primary election, the provisions of section 43.11 notwithstanding. If the vacancy occurs later than eighty-nine days before the date of that primary election, but not less than eighty-one days before the date of the general election, the nominations shall be made in the manner prescribed by this chapter for filling vacancies in nominations for offices to be voted for at the general election.
   2.  When a vacancy occurs in the office of county supervisor or any of the offices listed in section 39.17 and more than seventy days remain in the term of office following the next general election, the office shall be filled for the balance of the unexpired term at that general election unless the vacancy has been filled by a special election called more than seventy-three days before the primary election. If the vacancy occurs more than seventy-three days before the primary election, political party candidates for that office at the next general election shall be nominated at the primary election. If an appointment to fill the vacancy in office is made eighty-eight or more days before the primary election and a petition requesting a special election has not been received within fourteen days after the appointment is made, candidates for the office shall be nominated at the primary election.
    Sec. 3.  Section 43.11, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   43.11  Filing of nomination papers.
   Nomination papers in behalf of a candidate shall be filed:
   1.  For an elective county office, in the office of the county commissioner not earlier than ninety-two days nor later than 5:00 p.m. on the sixty-ninth day before the day fixed for holding the primary election.
   2.  For Nomination papers in behalf of a candidate for United States senator, for an elective state office, for representative in Congress, and for member of the general assembly, shall be filed in the office of the state commissioner not earlier than ninety-nine days nor later than 5:00 p.m. on the eighty-first day before the day fixed for holding the primary election.
    Sec. 4.  Section 43.15, subsection 3, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  All signers, for all nominations, of each separate part of a nomination paper, shall reside in the same county, representative or senatorial district for members of the general assembly. In counties where the supervisors are elected from districts, signers of nomination petitions for supervisor candidates shall reside in the supervisor district the candidate seeks to represent.
    Sec. 5.  Section 43.20, subsection 1, paragraph d, Code 2019, is amended by striking the paragraph.
    Sec. 6.  Section 43.24, subsection 1, paragraph b, subparagraph (2), Code 2019, is amended by striking the subparagraph.
    Sec. 7.  Section 43.24, subsection 3, paragraph b, Code 2019, is amended by striking the paragraph.
    Sec. 8.  Section 43.51, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   43.51  Finality of canvass.
   Such canvass and certificate shall be final as to all candidates for nomination to any elective county office or office of a subdivision of a county special charter city.
    Sec. 9.  Section 43.53, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   43.53  Nominees for subdivision special charter city office —— write-in candidates.
   The nominee of each political party for any office to be filled by the voters of any political subdivision special charter city within the county shall be the person receiving the highest number of votes cast in the primary election by the voters of that party for the office. That person shall appear as the party’s candidate for the office on the general election ballot. A person whose name is not printed on the official primary ballot shall not be declared nominated as a candidate for such office in the general regular city election unless that person receives at least five votes. Nomination of a candidate for the office of county supervisor elected from a district within the county shall be governed by section 43.52 and not by this section.
    Sec. 10.  Section 43.66, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   43.66  Write-in candidates.
   The fact that the candidate who receives the highest number of votes cast for any party’s nomination for an office to which section 43.52 or 43.65 is applicable is a person whose name was not printed on the official primary election ballot shall not affect the validity of the person’s nomination as a candidate for that office in the general election. However, if there is no candidate on the official primary ballot of a political party for nomination to a particular office, a write-in candidate may obtain the party’s nomination to that office in the primary if the candidate receives a number of votes equal to at least thirty-five percent of the total vote cast for all of that party’s candidates for that office in the last preceding primary election for which the party had candidates on the ballot for that office. If there have been no candidates from a political party for a seat in the general assembly since the most recent redistricting of the general assembly, a write-in candidate shall be considered nominated who receives a number of votes equal to at least thirty-five percent of the total votes cast, at the last preceding primary election in the precincts which currently constitute the general assembly district, for all of that party’s candidates for representative in the Congress of the United States or who receives at least one hundred votes, whichever number is greater. When two or more nominees are required, the division procedure prescribed in section 43.52 shall be applied to establish the minimum number of write-in votes necessary for nomination. If the primary is inconclusive, the necessary nominations shall be made in accordance with section 43.78, subsection 1.
    Sec. 11.  Section 43.67, subsection 1, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  Each candidate nominated pursuant to section 43.52 or 43.65 or 43A.3 is entitled to have the candidate’s name printed on the official ballot to be voted at the general election without other certificate unless the candidate was nominated by write-in votes. Immediately after the completion of the canvass held under section 43.49, the county auditor shall notify each person who was nominated by write-in votes for a county office that the person is required to file an affidavit of candidacy if the person wishes to be a candidate for that office at the general election. Immediately after the completion of the canvass held under section 43.63, the secretary of state shall notify each person who was nominated by write-in votes for a state or federal office that the person is required to file an affidavit of candidacy if the person wishes to be a candidate for that office at the general election. If the affidavit is not filed by 5:00 p.m. on the seventh day after the completion of the canvass, that person’s name shall not be placed upon the official general election ballot. The affidavit shall be signed by the candidate, notarized, and filed with the county auditor or the secretary of state, whichever is applicable.
    Sec. 12.  Section 43.77, subsection 2, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   2.  The primary election was inconclusive as to that office because no candidate for the party’s nomination for that office received the number of votes required by section 43.52, 43.53, or 43.65, whichever is applicable.
    Sec. 13.  Section 43.77, subsection 5, Code 2019, is amended by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 14.  Section 43.78, subsection 1, paragraphs d, e, and f, Code 2019, are amended by striking the paragraphs.
    Sec. 15.  Section 43.78, subsection 3, Code 2019, is amended by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 16.  Section 43.78, subsection 4, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   4.  Political party candidates for a vacant seat in the United States house of representatives, the board of supervisors, the elected county offices, or the general assembly which is to be filled at a special election called pursuant to section 69.14 or 69.14A shall be nominated in the manner provided by subsection 1 of this section for filling a vacancy on the general election ballot for the same office. The name of a candidate so nominated shall be submitted in writing to the appropriate commissioner, as required by section 43.88, at the earliest practicable time.
    Sec. 17.  Section 43.79, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   43.79  Death of candidate after time for withdrawal.
   The death of a candidate nominated as provided by law for any office to be filled at a general election, during the period beginning on the eighty-first day before the general election, in the case of any candidate whose nomination papers were filed with the state commissioner, or beginning on the seventy-third day before the general election, in the case of any candidate whose nomination papers were filed with the commissioner, and ending on the last day before the general election shall not operate to remove the deceased candidate’s name from the general election ballot. If the deceased candidate was seeking the office of senator or representative in the Congress of the United States, governor, attorney general, or senator or representative in the general assembly or county supervisor, section 49.58 shall control. If the deceased candidate was seeking any other office, and as a result of the candidate’s death a vacancy is subsequently found to exist, the vacancy shall be filled as provided by chapter 69.
    Sec. 18.  NEW SECTION.  43A.1  County primary election.
   At the same time and on the same ballot as the primary election, and in all respects governed and conducted as prescribed by law for the primary election, except as otherwise provided in this chapter, there shall be conducted a county primary election for the nonpartisan county offices described in sections 39.17 and 39.18.
    Sec. 19.  NEW SECTION.  43A.2  Nominations —— objections.
   1.  Nomination papers in behalf of a candidate for an elective county office, required pursuant to chapter 44 or 45, shall be filed in the office of the county commissioner not earlier than ninety-two days nor later than 5:00 p.m. on the sixty-ninth day before the day fixed for holding the county primary election.
   2.  In counties where the supervisors are elected from districts, signers of nomination petitions for supervisor candidates shall reside in the supervisor district the candidate seeks to represent and be signed by eligible electors who are residents of the district equal in number to at least one percent of the number of registered voters in the district on July 1 in the year preceding the year in which the office will appear on the ballot, or by at least two hundred fifty eligible electors who are residents of the county, whichever is less.
   3.  Objections shall be filed with the commissioner not less than sixty-four days before the date of the election.
    Sec. 20.  NEW SECTION.  43A.3  Finality of canvass.
   The canvass by the board of supervisors conducted pursuant to section 43.49 and certification under section 43.50 shall be final as to all candidates for nomination to any elective county office.
    Sec. 21.  NEW SECTION.  43A.4  Nominees for county office.
   1.  The nominees for any office to be filled by the voters of the entire county, except for the nominees for county supervisor when multiple county supervisors will be elected at the same general election, or for the office of county supervisor elected from a district within the county, shall be the two persons receiving the greatest number of votes cast in the county primary election by the voters, and those persons shall appear on the general election ballot. 
   2.  For the nominees for county supervisor to be filled by the voters of the entire county when multiple county supervisors will be elected at the same general election, the number of nominees to appear on the election ballot shall be twice the number of seats to be elected at the general election. The required number of persons who receive the greatest number of votes cast in the county primary election by the voters of the county shall be the nominees for the general election, but no candidate is nominated who fails to receive thirty-five percent of the number of votes found by dividing the number of votes cast by voters for the office in question by the number of persons to be elected to that office. If the county primary election is inconclusive under this paragraph, the names of all candidates that appeared on the county primary election ballot shall appear on the general election ballot.
   3.  Immediately after the completion of the canvass, the county auditor shall notify each person who was nominated by write-in votes for a county office that the person is required to file an affidavit of candidacy if the person wishes to be a candidate for that office at the general election. The affidavit shall be signed by the candidate, notarized, and filed with the county auditor.
    Sec. 22.  NEW SECTION.  43A.5  Withdrawal of nominated candidate.
   A candidate nominated for a county office in a county primary election may withdraw as a nominee for that office on or before, but not later than, the seventy-fourth day before the date of the general election by so notifying the commissioner in writing.
    Sec. 23.  NEW SECTION.  43A.6  Right to place on ballot.
   Each candidate nominated pursuant to section 43A.3 is entitled to have the candidate’s name printed on the official ballot to be voted for at the general election if the candidate files an affidavit in the form required by section 43.67 not later than 5:00 p.m. on the seventh day following the completion of the canvass.
    Sec. 24.  Section 49.37, subsection 4, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   4.  The commissioner shall arrange the partisan county offices on the ballot with the board of supervisors first, followed by the other county offices in the same sequence in which they appear in section 39.17. Nonpartisan, followed by the offices shall be listed after partisan offices in section 39.21, in the same sequence in which they appear in that section.
    Sec. 25.  Section 49.104, subsection 5, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   5.  One observer at a time representing any nonparty political organization, any candidate nominated by petition pursuant to chapter 45, or any other nonpartisan candidate in a city or school election, appearing on the ballot of the election in progress. Candidates who send observers to the polls shall provide each observer with a letter of appointment in the form prescribed by the state commissioner.
    Sec. 26.  Section 53.23, subsection 4, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   4.  The room where members of the special precinct election board are engaged in counting absentee ballots on the day before the election pursuant to subsection 3, paragraph “c”, or during the hours the polls are open shall be policed so as to prevent any person other than those whose presence is authorized by this subsection from obtaining information about the progress of the count. The only persons who may be admitted to that room are the members of the board, five challengers representing each political party, one observer representing any nonparty political organization or any candidate nominated by petition pursuant to chapter 45 or any other nonpartisan candidate in a city or school election appearing on the ballot of the election in progress, one observer representing persons supporting a public measure appearing on the ballot and one observer representing persons opposed to such measure, and the commissioner or the commissioner’s designee. It shall be unlawful for any of these persons to communicate or attempt to communicate, directly or indirectly, information regarding the progress of the count at any time while the board is convened pursuant to subsection 3, paragraph “c”, or at any time before the polls are closed.
    Sec. 27.  Section 69.12, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   When Except as otherwise provided in section 69.14A, when a vacancy occurs in any nonpartisan elective office of a political subdivision of this state, and the statutes governing the office in which the vacancy occurs require that it be filled by election or are silent as to the method of filling the vacancy, it shall be filled pursuant to this section. As used in this section, “pending election” means any election at which there will be on the ballot either the office in which the vacancy exists, or any other office to be filled or any public question to be decided by the voters of the same political subdivision in which the vacancy exists.
    Sec. 28.  Section 69.14A, subsection 4, Code 2019, is amended by striking the subsection.
    Sec. 29.  Section 331.238, subsection 3, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  An alternative form of county government shall provide for the partisan nonpartisan election of its officers.
    Sec. 30.  Section 331.261, subsection 1, paragraph k, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   k.  The partisan nonpartisan election of community commonwealth government officials.
    Sec. 31.  Section 331.383, Code 2019, is amended to read as follows:
   331.383  Duties and powers relating to elections.
   The board shall ensure that the county commissioner of elections conducts primary, county primary, general, city, school, and special elections in accordance with applicable state law. The board shall canvass elections in accordance with sections 43.49 to 43.51, 43.60 to 43.62, 46.24, 50.13, 50.24 to 50.29, 50.44 to 50.47, 260C.39, 275.25, 277.20, 376.1, 376.7, and 376.9. The board shall prepare and deliver a list of persons nominated in accordance with section 43.55, provide for a recount in accordance with section 50.48, provide for election precincts in accordance with sections 49.3, 49.4, 49.6 to 49.8, and 49.11, pay election costs as provided in section 47.3, participate in election contests as provided in sections 62.1A and 62.9, and perform other election duties required by state law. The board may provide for the use of an optical scan voting system as provided in sections 52.2, 52.3, and 52.8, and exercise other election powers as provided by state law.
    Sec. 32.  REPEAL.  Sections 43.52 and 43.54, Code 2019, are repealed.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill requires that county supervisors, auditors, sheriffs, treasurers, recorders, and attorneys be nominated and elected on a nonpartisan basis. The bill establishes a county primary election for the nomination of nonpartisan county officers to the general election ballot. The county primary election is required to be administered concurrently with the primary election, as provided for in the bill. Under the bill, the number of candidates to be nominated at the county primary election is required to be twice the number of officers to be elected to a particular office at the general election. The candidates receiving the greatest number of votes in the county primary election are nominated and entitled to have the candidate’s name printed on the official ballot to be voted for at the general election, as provided for under the bill.
   Under the bill, nonpartisan candidates for county office and other nonpartisan candidates are extended the same rights to observe elections conduct that are provided to nonpartisan candidates for city and school district office under current law. The bill also makes corresponding changes, and maintains current law related to the conduct of partisan elections for special charter cities.