Meeting Public Comments

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SSB 1176

A bill for an act relating to the conduct of election recounts, providing penalties, and including effective date provisions.(See SF 543.)

Agenda

Subcommittee members: Rozenboom-CH, Alons, Winckler

Date: Monday, March 3, 2025

Time: 3:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Location: Room G15

Comments Submitted:

The purpose of comments is to provide information to members of the subcommittee.

Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.

03-03-2025

Carol Hanson

I oppose this SSB 1176 Bill until my following concerns are addressed:p.2 line #10 says "The state commissioner may, at the state commissioner's discretion, call for a recount." This appears to give too much power to the state commissioner of elections!p. 5 line #22 shows this eliminates line 2225 "any other person who receives votes for that particular office or nomination in the precinct (could request a recount)!p. 13 line #32 mentions "if the precinct election officers report counting errors to the commissioner." This is eliminated to only allow the county commissioner of elections to decide on conducting an audit.This bill basically calls for consolidation of power to the state commissioner of elections (who in Iowa I assume is the Secretary of State.

03-03-2025

Lois Colleen Lawler

I am opposed to SSB 1176 as written.The summary of the bill states: The bill requires the candidate to request the same method of recounting in all counties in which the candidate requests are counted. The state commissioner of elections shall assess a civil penalty of $100 against a candidate for each county in which the candidate was required to request a hand recount but did not. This may establish uniformity from a centralized government, but the many counties of Iowa hardly present a case for one size fits all. Any candidate should be able to request a recount that is more suitable to the size of the county. A candidate may also possibly believe that the integrity of one county may be more questionable and thus wish to require that only that county needs to do a hand recount. Remembering that in 2020, multiple prefilled absentee ballot request forms were sent to Linn County voters, a hand count would thus seem more appropriate in one county than in another that did not engage in questionable practices. Though I bring this up as merely an example, how can we foresee any and all possible future scenarios?Please vote against this bill.