H.F. 2304 Section 1. Section 49.53, subsection 1, Code 2016, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 1. The commissioner shall not less than four nor more than 3 twenty days before the day of each election, except those for 4 which different publication requirements are prescribed by law, 5 publish notice of the election. The notice shall contain a 6 facsimile of the portion of the ballot containing the first 7 rotation as prescribed by section 49.31, subsection 2 , and 8 shall show the names of all candidates or nominees and the 9 office each seeks, and all public questions, to be voted upon 10 at the election. The sample ballot published as a part of the 11 notice may at the discretion of the commissioner be reduced in 12 size relative to the actual ballot but such reduction shall 13 not cause upper case letters appearing in candidates’ names or 14 in summaries of public measures on the published sample ballot 15 to be less than nine point type. The notice shall also state 16 the date of the election, the hours the polls will be open, 17 the location of each polling place at which voting is to occur 18 in the election, and the names of the precincts voting at each 19 polling place, but the statement need not set forth any fact 20 which is apparent from the portion of the ballot appearing as 21 a part of the same notice. The notice shall include the full 22 text of all public measures to be voted upon at the election. 23 For the general election, the notice shall also include notice 24 of the time and place of the postelection audit required by 25 section 50.51. 26 Sec. 2. Section 50.12, Code 2016, is amended to read as 27 follows: 28 50.12 Return and preservation of ballots. 29 Immediately after making the proclamation, and before 30 separating, the board members of each precinct in which votes 31 have been received by paper ballot shall enclose in an envelope 32 or other container all ballots which have been counted by them, 33 except those endorsed “Rejected as double”, “Defective”, or 34 “Objected to”, and securely seal the envelope. The signatures 35 -1- LSB 5651YH (4) 86 aw/sc 1/ 8

H.F. 2304 of all board members of the precinct shall be placed across 1 the seal or the opening of the container so that it cannot 2 be opened without breaking the seal. The precinct election 3 officials shall return all the ballots to the commissioner, who 4 shall carefully preserve them for six months. Ballots from 5 elections for federal offices shall be preserved for twenty-two 6 months. The sealed packages containing voted ballots shall 7 be opened only for an official recount authorized by section 8 50.48 , 50.49 , or 50.50 , for an election contest held pursuant 9 to chapters 57 through 62 , for a postelection audit required by 10 section 50.51, or to destroy the ballots pursuant to section 11 50.19 . 12 Sec. 3. Section 50.48, subsection 1, paragraph a, 13 unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2016, is amended to read as 14 follows: 15 The county board of canvassers shall order a recount of the 16 votes cast for a particular office or nomination in one or 17 more specified election precincts in that county if a written 18 request therefor for a recount is made not later than 5:00 p.m. 19 on the third day following the county board’s canvass of the 20 election in question. However, if a postelection audit is 21 expanded pursuant to section 50.51, subsection 6, paragraph 22 “c” , the request for a recount shall be made not later than 23 5:00 p.m. on the first business day following completion of 24 the audit. The request shall be filed with the commissioner 25 of that county, or with the commissioner responsible for 26 conducting the election if section 47.2, subsection 2 , is 27 applicable, and shall be signed by either of the following: 28 Sec. 4. NEW SECTION . 50.51 Postelection audit. 29 1. a. After each general election, a postelection audit of 30 the tabulation of votes shall be conducted as provided in this 31 section. 32 b. A postelection audit conducted pursuant to this section 33 shall not affect a person’s right to request a recount under 34 section 50.48 or the right of electors to request a recount 35 -2- LSB 5651YH (4) 86 aw/sc 2/ 8

H.F. 2304 of a public measure under section 50.49 or the commissioner’s 1 right to request an administrative recount under section 50.50. 2 If a request for a recount is filed under section 50.48, a 3 postelection audit of the office for which the recount was 4 requested shall not be conducted or shall be terminated, as the 5 case may be. 6 2. The commissioner shall include notice of the time and 7 place of the postelection audit in the notice of the election 8 published pursuant to section 49.53. The commissioner shall 9 also notify the county chairperson of each political party 10 referred to in section 49.13, subsection 2, of the time and 11 place of the postelection audit. 12 3. a. The postelection audit shall be conducted for the 13 offices of president of the United States and governor and 14 an additional office listed in paragraph “b” or “c” , and the 15 offices listed in paragraph “d” , if applicable. 16 b. When the office of president of the United States 17 appears on the ballot, the votes cast for one of the following 18 contested offices shall be audited: 19 (1) United States senator. 20 (2) United States representative. 21 (3) Senator in the general assembly. 22 (4) Representative in the general assembly. 23 c. When the office of governor appears on the ballot, the 24 votes cast for one of the following contested offices shall be 25 audited: 26 (1) United States senator. 27 (2) United States representative. 28 (3) Senator in the general assembly. 29 (4) Representative in the general assembly. 30 (5) Secretary of state. 31 (6) Auditor of state. 32 (7) Treasurer of state. 33 (8) Attorney general. 34 (9) Secretary of agriculture. 35 -3- LSB 5651YH (4) 86 aw/sc 3/ 8

H.F. 2304 d. The additional office to be audited under paragraph 1 “b” or “c” shall be chosen by lot at the same time and in the 2 same manner that precincts to be audited are chosen pursuant 3 to subsection 4. If in the election to be audited, none of 4 the offices listed in paragraph “b” were contested races, 5 the offices of county supervisor, county auditor, and county 6 sheriff shall be entered in the lot, and if none of the offices 7 listed in paragraph “c” were contested races, the offices 8 of county supervisor, county attorney, county treasurer, and 9 county recorder shall be entered in the lot. 10 e. In addition to the offices listed in this subsection 11 as being subject to the postelection audit, the commissioner 12 may choose to include any other office or public measure that 13 appeared on the ballot in those precincts chosen for the 14 postelection audit. 15 4. a. The precincts for which a postelection audit shall 16 be conducted shall be chosen by lot by the chairperson of 17 the county board of canvassers on the day the canvass of 18 the general election is conducted. After the precincts have 19 been chosen, the additional office to be audited, as provided 20 in subsection 3, shall be chosen by lot by the chairperson. 21 The selection proceedings shall be open to the public and to 22 observers from the political parties. 23 b. The number of precincts chosen shall be as follows: 24 (1) In counties with fifty thousand or fewer registered 25 voters, two precincts. 26 (2) In counties with more than fifty thousand registered 27 voters up to and including one hundred thousand registered 28 voters, three precincts. 29 (3) In counties with more than one hundred thousand 30 registered voters up to and including two hundred thousand 31 registered voters, four precincts. 32 (4) In counties with more than two hundred thousand 33 registered voters, six precincts. 34 c. The absentee and special voters precinct established 35 -4- LSB 5651YH (4) 86 aw/sc 4/ 8

H.F. 2304 in section 53.20 shall be considered a precinct for purposes 1 of a postelection audit. If the absentee and special voters 2 precinct is chosen by lot to be audited, a number of ballots 3 equal to five percent of the absentee ballots cast in the 4 election shall be audited. 5 d. For purposes of paragraph “b” , “registered voters” 6 means those persons registered to vote as of the close of 7 registration for the general election pursuant to section 8 48A.9, subsection 1. 9 e. The county board of canvassers shall not use a 10 computerized process of randomization as the method of 11 selecting by lot the precincts and offices to be audited. 12 5. The commissioner shall appoint the members of the 13 postelection audit board. The postelection audit board shall 14 be comprised of members affiliated with the political parties 15 as provided for regular elections boards in section 49.12. 16 6. a. When all members of the postelection audit board 17 have been selected, the board shall undertake and complete the 18 required audit no later than two business days following the 19 canvass. The ballots in each precinct chosen shall be counted 20 by hand. The commissioner or the commissioner’s designee 21 shall supervise the handling of ballots, tally lists, and the 22 printed reports from the automatic tabulating equipment to 23 ensure that the ballots, tally lists, and printed reports are 24 protected from alteration or damage. The board shall open only 25 the sealed ballot containers from the precincts chosen to be 26 audited. The board shall recount only the ballots which were 27 voted and counted for the office in question, including any 28 disputed ballots returned as required in section 50.5. 29 b. Immediately following the conclusion of the audit, 30 the postelection audit board shall make and file with the 31 commissioner a written report of its findings, which report 32 shall be signed by the chairperson of the postelection audit 33 board and one other member of the board who is affiliated with 34 a political party different than that of the chairperson. 35 -5- LSB 5651YH (4) 86 aw/sc 5/ 8

H.F. 2304 c. (1) If the postelection audit of an office reveals a 1 difference greater than one-half of one percent, but no fewer 2 than two votes, from the results on the printed report from the 3 automatic tabulating equipment, the postelection audit board 4 shall, within two days, conduct an audit of the offices for 5 which such difference was found in at least two additional 6 precincts chosen in the same manner the original precincts 7 were chosen and shall immediately report the results to the 8 commissioner. 9 (2) If the second audit also indicates a difference in the 10 vote totals that is greater than one-half of one percent, but 11 no fewer than two votes, from the results on the printed report 12 from the automatic tabulating equipment, the commissioner shall 13 immediately notify the state commissioner of elections. 14 (3) The state commissioner of elections may direct the 15 commissioner, or any other commissioner of a county where the 16 office appeared on the ballot, to conduct an additional audit 17 of the office in a number of precincts determined by the state 18 commissioner. 19 7. All reports pertaining to a postelection audit shall be 20 filed with the state commissioner of elections, and the state 21 commissioner shall make public the results of the postelection 22 audit in each county as those reports are received. 23 8. The state commissioner of elections shall adopt rules 24 to implement this section including but not limited to rules 25 establishing criteria for the state commissioner to utilize 26 when evaluating the results of postelection audits. 27 Sec. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Act takes effect July 1, 2016. 28 Sec. 6. APPLICABILITY. This Act applies to the general 29 election held in 2016 and all subsequent general elections. 30 EXPLANATION 31 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 32 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 33 This bill requires a postelection audit after each general 34 election. The postelection audit is a hand count of the 35 -6- LSB 5651YH (4) 86 aw/sc 6/ 8

H.F. 2304 ballots cast in certain contested, partisan offices in selected 1 precincts. The precincts and offices to be audited are to be 2 selected publicly by lot by the county board of canvassers, 3 except that the office of president of the United States 4 and governor are required to be audited after each general 5 election. 6 The bill provides that the number of precincts to be audited 7 is as follows: 8 In counties with 50,000 or fewer registered voters, two 9 precincts. 10 In counties with more than 50,000 registered voters up to and 11 including 100,000 registered voters, three precincts. 12 In counties with more than 100,000 registered voters up to 13 and including 200,000 registered voters, four precincts. 14 In counties with more than 200,000 registered voters, six 15 precincts. 16 The bill provides that if the postelection audit reveals 17 a difference greater than one-half of one percent from the 18 results on the printed report from the automatic tabulating 19 equipment, the postelection audit board shall, within two days, 20 conduct an audit of the offices for which such difference 21 was found in at least two additional precincts. If the 22 second audit also indicates a difference in the vote totals 23 that is greater than one-half of one percent, but no fewer 24 than two votes, from the results on the printed report from 25 the automatic tabulating equipment, the commissioner shall 26 immediately notify the state commissioner of elections. The 27 state commissioner may direct the commissioner, or any other 28 commissioner of a county where the office appeared on the 29 ballot, to conduct an additional audit of the office in a 30 number of precincts determined by the state commissioner. 31 The bill provides that if a recount of an office is 32 requested, the postelection audit of that office shall not be 33 conducted or shall be terminated, as the case may be. 34 The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to 35 -7- LSB 5651YH (4) 86 aw/sc 7/ 8