1. In counties where counting centers have been established under section 52.34, the commissioner may designate certain polling places as early ballot pick-up sites. At these sites, between the hours of one p.m. and four p.m. on the day of the election, early pick-up officers shall receive the sealed ballot container containing the ballots which have been voted throughout the day along with a signed statement of the precinct attesting to the number of declarations of eligibility signed up to that time, excluding those declarations signed by voters who have not yet placed their ballots in the ballot container. The officers shall replace the ballot container containing the voted ballots with an empty ballot container, to be sealed in the presence of a precinct election official.
2. Early pick-up officers shall be appointed in two-person teams, one from each of the political parties referred to in section 49.13, who shall be appointed by the commissioner from the election board panel drawn up as provided by section 49.15. The early pick-up officers shall be sworn in the manner provided by section 49.75 for election board members, and shall receive compensation as provided in section 49.20.
3. Each two-person team of early pick-up officers shall travel together in the same vehicle and shall have the container under their immediate joint control until they surrender it to the commissioner or the commissioner's designee. If persons designated as early pick-up officers fail to appear at the time the duties set forth in this section are to be performed, the commissioner shall at once appoint some other person or persons, giving preference to persons designated by the respective county chairpersons of the political parties described in section 49.13, to carry out the requirements of this section.
4. The tabulation of ballots received from early pick-up sites shall be conducted at the counting center during the hours the polls are open, in the manner provided in sections 52.36 and 52.37, except that the room in which the ballots are being counted shall not be open to the public during the hours in which the polls are open and the room shall be policed so as to prevent any person other than those whose presence is authorized by this section and sections 52.36 and 52.37 from obtaining information about the progress of the count. The only persons who may be admitted to that room, as long as admission does not impede the progress of the count, are the members of the board, one challenger representing each political party, one observer representing any nonparty political organization or any candidate nominated by petition pursuant to chapter 45, and the commissioner or the commissioner's designee. No compilation of vote subtotals shall be made while the polls are open. Any person who makes a compilation of vote subtotals before the polls are closed commits a simple misdemeanor. It shall be unlawful for any person to communicate or attempt to communicate, directly or indirectly, information regarding the progress of the count at any time before the polls are closed.
93 Acts, ch 143, § 30; 94 Acts, ch 1180, §21
Iowa General Assembly
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