House File 546 - Introduced
HOUSE FILE
BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT
(SUCCESSOR TO HF 155)
Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to membership on election boards.
2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
3 TLSB 1882HV 82
4 sc/es/88
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. Section 49.13, subsection 2, Code 2007, is
1 2 amended to read as follows:
1 3 2. Each election board member To the extent necessary,
1 4 election boards shall be a member include members of one of
1 5 the two political parties whose candidates for president of
1 6 the United States or for governor, as the case may be,
1 7 received the largest and next largest number of votes in the
1 8 precinct at the last general election, except that persons not
1 9 members of either of these parties may be appointed to serve
1 10 for any election in which no candidates appear on the ballot
1 11 under the heading of either of these political parties. For
1 12 all elections except the primary election, election boards may
1 13 also include persons not members of either of these parties.
1 14 However, persons who are not members of either political party
1 15 shall not comprise more than one=third of the membership of an
1 16 election board, and the commissioner shall not appoint such
1 17 persons until all the members of the election board panel who
1 18 are members of a political party have been appointed to an
1 19 election board.
1 20 Sec. 2. Section 49.15, Code 2007, is amended to read as
1 21 follows:
1 22 49.15 COMMISSIONER TO DRAW UP ELECTION BOARD PANEL.
1 23 Not less than twenty days before each primary election, the
1 24 commissioner shall draw up for each precinct an election board
1 25 panel from which members of the precinct election board shall
1 26 be appointed for each election held in the precinct during the
1 27 ensuing two years. Each panel shall include members of each
1 28 of the political parties referred to in section 49.13, whose
1 29 names may be designated by the county chairpersons of each of
1 30 these political parties not less than thirty days prior to
1 31 each primary election. The commissioner may place on the
1 32 election board panel names of persons known by the
1 33 commissioner to be members of these political parties, if the
1 34 respective county chairpersons fail to designate a sufficient
1 35 number of names, and may also add names of persons, whether or
2 1 not they are members of either of these political parties, who
2 2 have advised the commissioner they are willing to serve on the
2 3 election board for elections in which no candidates appear on
2 4 the ballot under the heading of either of these political
2 5 parties, or. The commissioner may also place on the election
2 6 board panel names of persons whom either the city council of a
2 7 city of three thousand five hundred or less population or a
2 8 school board has advised the commissioner at least thirty days
2 9 before each primary election are willing to serve without pay
2 10 at elections conducted for that school district or city, as
2 11 the case may be, during the tenure of the election board panel
2 12 on which these names are included.
2 13 Sec. 3. Section 51.2, Code 2007, is amended to read as
2 14 follows:
2 15 51.2 APPOINTMENT.
2 16 The members of the election counting board shall be
2 17 appointed by the commissioner from the election board panel
2 18 drawn up as provided by section 49.15. The requirements of
2 19 section 49.13, relative to political party affiliation of
2 20 members of the election board appointed to serve for partisan
2 21 elections shall apply to the membership of the election
2 22 counting board. However, for the primary election, all
2 23 persons appointed to the election counting board shall be
2 24 members of one of the two political parties.
2 25 EXPLANATION
2 26 This bill allows the commissioner of elections, for all
2 27 elections except the primary election, to include on election
2 28 board panels names of persons who are not members of the two
2 29 political parties receiving the largest and next largest
2 30 number of votes for president or governor in the last general
2 31 election. However, the bill provides that the commissioner
2 32 shall first appoint from the election board panel all the
2 33 members of the panel who are members of one of the two
2 34 political parties. Precinct election officials and members of
2 35 the election counting board are chosen from election board
3 1 panels.
3 2 LSB 1882HV 82
3 3 sc:nh/es/88