HF 2470 (LSB 6187HV (2) 83)

HOUSE FILE 2470

BY  COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT

(SUCCESSOR TO HSB 683)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to election laws by making changes to voter registration, absentee voting, and election day procedures, and including effective date and applicability provisions.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 48A.7A, subsection 1, paragraph b, subparagraph (2), subparagraph division (d), Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   (d)  Bank statement provided by the financial institution either electronically or by regular mail.
    Sec. 2.  Section 48A.7A, subsection 1, paragraph b, subparagraph (2), Code 2009, is amended by adding the following new subparagraph division:
   NEW SUBPARAGRAPH DIVISION.  (h)  A receipt for payment of an item in subparagraph division (b) or (c).
    Sec. 3.  Section 48A.11, subsection 1, Code 2009, is amended by adding the following new paragraph:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  n.  Whether the registrant wishes to request an absentee ballot and the name and date of the election for which the absentee ballot is requested. A registrant may request an absentee ballot under this paragraph for an election held in the year of registration.
    Sec. 4.  Section 48A.18, Code 2009, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  6.  The department or a county treasurer’s office is not required to inquire of a registrant, or a person who declines registration, whether the registrant or person would like to request an absentee ballot.
    Sec. 5.  Section 49.77, subsection 3, Code Supplement 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   3.  a.  A precinct election official shall require any person whose name does not appear on the election register as an active voter to show identification. Specific documents which are acceptable forms of identification shall be prescribed by the state commissioner.  A precinct election official shall not require any person whose name appears on the election register as an active voter to show identification.
   b.  A precinct election official may require of the voter unknown to the official, identification in the form prescribed by the state commissioner by rule. If identification is established to the satisfaction of the precinct election officials, the person may then be allowed to vote.
    Sec. 6.  Section 49.104, Code 2009, is amended by adding the following new unnumbered paragraph:
   NEW UNNUMBERED PARAGRAPH.  Persons appointed under subsections 2 or 5 shall not be prohibited from advocating on the behalf of a voter at the polling place.
    Sec. 7.  Section 50.20, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   50.20  Notice of number of provisional ballots.

   The commissioner shall compile a list of the number of provisional ballots cast under section 49.81 in each precinct. The list shall include the name and address of those persons in each precinct who cast provisional ballots. The list shall be made available to the public as soon as possible, but in no case later than nine o’clock 9:00 a.m. on the second day following the election. Any elector may examine the list during normal office hours, and may also examine the affidavit envelopes bearing the ballots of challenged electors until the reconvening of the special precinct board as required by this chapter. Only those persons so permitted by section 53.23, subsection 4, shall have access to the affidavits while that board is in session. Any elector may present written statements or documents, supporting or opposing the counting of any provisional ballot, at the commissioner’s office until the reconvening of the special precinct board.
    Sec. 8.  Section 50.21, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   50.21  Special precinct board reconvened.
   1.  The commissioner shall reconvene the election board of the special precinct established by section 53.20 not earlier than noon on the second third day following each election which is required by law to be canvassed on the Monday or Tuesday following the election. If the second third day following such an election is a legal holiday the special precinct election board may be convened at noon on the second day following the election, and if the canvass of the election is scheduled at any time earlier than the Monday following the election, the special precinct election board shall be reconvened at noon on the day following the election.
   2.  If no provisional ballots were cast in the county pursuant to section 49.81 at any election, the special precinct election board need not be so reconvened. If the number of provisional ballots cast at any election is not sufficient to require reconvening of the entire election board of the special precinct, the commissioner may reconvene only the number of members required. If the number of provisional ballots cast at any election exceeds the number of absentee ballots cast, the size of the special precinct election board may be increased at the commissioner’s discretion. The commissioner shall observe the requirements of sections 49.12 and 49.13 in making adjustments to the size of the special precinct election board.
    Sec. 9.  Section 53.1, subsection 1, Code 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  Any registered voter may vote absentee, subject to the provisions of this chapter, vote at any election:
   a.  When the voter expects to be absent on election day during the time the polls are open from the precinct in which the voter is a registered voter.
   b.  When, through illness or physical disability, the voter expects to be prevented from going to the polls and voting on election day.
   c.  When the voter expects to be unable to go to the polls and vote on election day.
    Sec. 10.  Section 53.2, subsections 1 and 4, Code Supplement 2009, are amended to read as follows:
   1.  a.  Any registered voter, under the circumstances specified in section 53.1, may on any day, except election day, and not more than seventy days prior to the date of the election, apply in person for an absentee ballot at the commissioner’s office or at any location designated by the commissioner. However, for those elections in which the commissioner directs the polls be opened at noon pursuant to section 49.73, a voter may apply in person for an absentee ballot at the commissioner’s office from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. on election day.
   b.  A registered voter may make written application to the commissioner for an absentee ballot. A written application for an absentee ballot must be received by the commissioner no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Friday before the election. A written application for an absentee ballot delivered to the commissioner and received by the commissioner more than seventy days prior to the date of the election or at any time during the calendar year of the election for which the absentee ballot is requested shall be retained by the commissioner and processed in the same manner as a written application received not more than seventy days before the date of the election.
   4.  Each application shall contain the name and signature of the registered voter, the registered voter’s date of birth, the address at which the voter is registered to vote, and the name or date of the election for which the absentee ballot is requested, and such other information as may be necessary to determine the correct absentee ballot for the registered voter.  Spaces for information on the prescribed form shall be arranged in such a manner that required information is at the beginning of the form before spaces for information that is optional to include. If insufficient information has been provided, either on the prescribed form or on an application created by the applicant, the commissioner shall, by the best means available, obtain the additional necessary information.
    Sec. 11.  NEW SECTION.  53.4  Receipt of application for ballot —— notation on registration record.

   Beginning on the one hundredth day before the election, all applications for absentee ballots for that election, and any information contained on an absentee ballot application pertaining to the applicant’s voter registration record, shall be recorded on the statewide voter registration system within forty-eight hours of receipt of the application by the commissioner.
    Sec. 12.  Section 53.20, subsection 2, Code Supplement 2009, is amended by adding the following new paragraph:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  c.  The reports required by this subsection shall be forwarded to the state commissioner who shall compile the reports into one statewide report for each precinct in each county and shall make the report available to the public.
    Sec. 13.  Section 53.23, subsection 1, Code Supplement 2009, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  The election board of the absentee ballot and special voters precinct shall be appointed by the commissioner in the manner prescribed by sections 49.12 and 49.13, except that the number of precinct election officials appointed to the board shall be sufficient to complete the counting of absentee ballots by 10:00 p.m. after the board convenes on election day.
    Sec. 14.  Section 53.23, subsection 3, paragraphs a and c, Code Supplement 2009, are amended to read as follows:
   a.  The commissioner shall set the convening time for the board, allowing a reasonable amount of time to complete counting all absentee ballots by 10:00 p.m. after the board convenes on election day.  Once the commissioner has convened the board on election day, the count required by this subsection shall not cease or otherwise be interrupted until the count is completed unless an equipment malfunction causes the count to be interrupted.
   c.  For the general election, the commissioner may convene the special precinct election board on the day before the election to begin counting absentee ballots. However, if in the preceding general election the counting of absentee ballots was not completed by 10:00 p.m. on election day, the commissioner shall convene the special precinct election board on the day before the next general election to begin counting absentee ballots. The board shall not release the results of its tabulation pursuant to this paragraph until the count is completed on election day.
    Sec. 15.  EFFECTIVE DATE AND APPLICABILITY.
   1.  Except as provided in subsection 2, this Act takes effect July 1, 2010, and applies to elections held on or after September 30, 2010.
   2.  The section of this Act amending section 48A.11 and the portion of the section of this Act amending section 53.2, subsection 4, take effect January 1, 2012.
EXPLANATION
   This bill makes various changes to the laws relating to absentee voting and voter registration.
   The bill adds to the list of documents that are accepted for purposes of establishing residency for election day and in-person absentee voter registration. Currently, two of the acceptable items are a property tax statement or utility bill showing the name and address of the voter registrant. The bill provides that a receipt for payment of either of these items is acceptable if the receipt contains the name and address of the voter registrant. The bill specifies that the bank statement currently listed as an acceptable document for establishing residency may be a bank statement provided by the financial institution either electronically or by regular mail.
   The bill requires the state commissioner to include on the voter registration form space for the registrant to indicate whether the registrant wishes to request an absentee ballot and the name and date of the election, held in the year of registration, for which the absentee ballot is requested. This provision of the bill takes effect January 1, 2012.
   The bill eliminates a provision authorizing a precinct election official to ask for identification of any voter unknown to the official. The bill further provides that a precinct official shall not require identification of any person whose name is on the election register as an active voter.
   Under current law, the county commissioner of elections is to compile a list, for public inspection within two days of the election, of the number of provisional ballots cast in an election. The bill requires that the list also include the name and address of each person who cast a provisional ballot.
   The bill provides that polling place observers appointed by political parties or nonparty political organizations may advocate on behalf of a voter at the polling place.
   The bill strikes the reasons for which a voter may request an absentee ballot and provides instead that any registered voter may request and vote an absentee ballot.
    Currently, if an application for an absentee ballot is received more than 70 days before the election, the commissioner is required to retain the application and process it in the same manner as an application received in a timely fashion. Under the bill, the commissioner would also retain an application received at any time during the calendar year of the election for which the ballot is requested and process it immediately after the ballots become available.
   The bill provides that spaces on the absentee ballot application form prescribed by the state commissioner of elections shall be arranged in such a manner that required information is at the beginning of the form before spaces for information that is optional to include. This provision of the bill takes effect January 1, 2012.
   The bill requires the commissioner, beginning on the 100th day before the election, to record receipt of an absentee ballot application, and any voter registration changes resulting from certain information included on the application, to be entered on the statewide voter registration system within 48 hours of receiving the application.
   Currently for the general election, the county commissioner of elections is required to report absentee and provisional voting by resident precinct of the voter. The bill requires the county commissioner of elections to send the reports to the state commissioner who shall compile a statewide report for each precinct in each county.
   The bill provides that once the special precinct election board is convened by the commissioner on election day to count absentee and provisional ballots, it must continue the count until it is completed unless an equipment malfunction causes the count to be interrupted. 
   Current law authorizes the commissioner to take certain actions in order to complete the count by 10:00 p.m. on election day. Those provisions are amended to authorize the same actions in order to complete the count once the board has convened on election day.
   The bill strikes the provision that required the commissioner to convene the special precinct election board on the day before the election to begin counting ballots if in the preceding general election the count was not completed by 10:00 p.m. on election day.
   The bill provides that the special precinct election board shall be reconvened no earlier than noon on the third day, rather than the second day, following the election.
   Except as otherwise noted, the bill takes effect July 1, 2010, and applies to elections held on or after September 30, 2010.