Senate File 246 - Introduced



                                       SENATE FILE       
                                       BY  PUTNEY


    Passed Senate, Date               Passed House,  Date             
    Vote:  Ayes        Nays           Vote:  Ayes        Nays         
                 Approved                            

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to the ordering of political parties listed on
  2    the ballot.
  3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
  4 TLSB 2259SS 82
  5 sc/es/88

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 49.31, subsection 1, unnumbered
  1  2 paragraph 2, Code 2007, is amended to read as follows:
  1  3    The commissioner shall determine the order of political
  1  4 parties and nonparty political organizations on the ballot.
  1  5 The sequence shall be the same for each office on the ballot
  1  6 and for each precinct in the county voting in the election.
  1  7 For the order of political parties in successive elections,
  1  8 the commissioner shall alternate the order determined in the
  1  9 last preceding election.  A commissioner who succeeds to that
  1 10 office shall discern the order of political parties on the
  1 11 ballot determined by the previous commissioner and shall
  1 12 alternate the order as required by this paragraph.
  1 13    Sec. 2.  Section 49.31, Code 2007, is amended by adding the
  1 14 following new subsection:
  1 15    NEW SUBSECTION.  8.  For purposes of this section,
  1 16 "political party" means political party as defined by section
  1 17 43.2.
  1 18                           EXPLANATION
  1 19    This bill requires the commissioner of elections to
  1 20 alternate the order of political parties on the ballot from
  1 21 that used in the previous election.  Any commissioner
  1 22 succeeding to that office shall discern the ordering of
  1 23 political parties on the ballot that was utilized by the
  1 24 previous commissioner and shall continue to alternate the
  1 25 order in successive elections.
  1 26    The bill also specifies that "political party" means a
  1 27 party which, at the last preceding general election, cast for
  1 28 its candidate for president of the United States or for
  1 29 governor, as the case may be, at least 2 percent of the total
  1 30 vote cast for all candidates for that office at that election.
  1 31 LSB 2259SS 82
  1 32 sc:rj/es/88