SENATE/HOUSE FILE _____

BY  (PROPOSED SECRETARY OF STATE BILL)

A BILL FOR

An Act requiring that absentee ballot return envelopes be conspicuously marked with county commissioner of elections receipt and postmark requirements.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 53.17, subsection 2, Code 2011, is amended to read as follows:
   2.
  a.  In order for the ballot to be counted, the return envelope must be received in the commissioner’s office before the polls close on election day or be clearly postmarked by an officially authorized postal service not later than the day before the election and received by the commissioner not later than noon on the Monday following the election.
   b.  Return envelopes shall be conspicuously marked to provide voters with notice of the requirements of this subsection. The state commissioner of elections shall adopt rules to implement this paragraph.
EXPLANATION
   This bill requires that all absentee ballot return envelopes be marked conspicuously to give notice to voters that in order for the absentee ballot to be counted the ballot must be received before the polls close on election day or be postmarked by the day before the election and received by the county commissioner of elections not later than noon on the Monday following the election. The state commissioner of elections shall adopt rules to implement this requirement.