SF 2346 (LSB 5868SV (1) 87)

SENATE FILE 2346

BY  COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT

(SUCCESSOR TO SSB 3191)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the conduct of election activities, including the sending of certain electronic messages, ballot arrangement for certain partisan offices, and imposing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

DIVISION I
ELECTRONIC MESSAGES

    Section 1.  NEW SECTION.  39A.5A  Certain electronic messages prohibited.
   1.  For the purposes of this section:
   a.  “Text or media message” means a message that contains written, audio, video, or photographic content and is sent electronically to a cellular telephone or mobile electronic device telephone number, but does not include electronic mail sent to an electronic mail address.
   b.  “Unsolicited political advertisement” means a text or media message sent without the prior permission of the recipient that includes express advocacy as defined in section 68A.102.
   2.  A person shall not send or cause to be sent to a resident of this state an unsolicited political advertisement.
   3.  A person shall not send or cause to be sent to a resident of this state a text or media message containing an unsolicited political advertisement without first receiving prior permission from the intended recipient which permission includes the telephone number to which the text or media message may be sent. The permission shall be revocable at any time by submission of a request that includes the telephone number for which permission is being revoked.
   4.  A person who violates this section shall be subject to a civil penalty of fifty dollars for each telephone number to which an unsolicited political advertisement is sent, up to a maximum of five thousand dollars. Any penalties collected by the secretary of state shall be forwarded to the treasurer of state and deposited in the general fund of the state.
DIVISION II
BALLOT ORDER OF CANDIDATES

    Sec. 2.  Section 49.31, subsection 1, Code 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   1.  a.  All ballots shall be arranged with the names of candidates for each office listed below the office title. For partisan elections the name of the political party or organization which nominated each candidate shall be listed after or below each candidate’s name.
   b.  (1)  The commissioner shall determine the order of political parties and nonparty political organizations candidates on the ballot as provided in paragraph “b”. The sequence order shall be the same for each office on the ballot and for each precinct in the county voting in the election.  The commissioner shall arrange the ballot so that the candidates of each political party, as defined in section 43.2, for each partisan office appearing on the ballot shall appear in descending order so that the candidates of the political party whose registered voters voted in the greatest number in the commissioner’s county at the preceding election described in section 39.9 shall appear first on the ballot, and the candidates of the political party whose registered voters voted in the next greatest number in the commissioner’s county at such election appear next on the ballot, and continuing in descending order in the same manner.
   (2)  The commissioner shall determine the number of registered voters from each political party who voted at each election described in section 39.9 after the state registrar has updated information on participation pursuant to section 48A.38, subsection 2, following such an election.
   (3)  If the number of registered voters from two or more political parties voted in the same number in the county, the commissioner shall determine the order of arranging political party candidates for those political parties based upon the numbers of registered voters who voted in the most recent election described in section 39.9, for which the number of registered voters from those political parties who voted in such an election, were different.
   c.  The commissioner shall determine the order of candidates of nonparty political organizations on the ballot. The order shall be the same for each office on the ballot and for each precinct in the county voting in the election.
    Sec. 3.  Section 49.31, subsection 2, paragraph b, Code 2018, is amended to read as follows:
   b.  The Notwithstanding any provision of subsection 1, paragraph “b”, to the contrary, the commissioner shall then arrange the surnames of each political party’s candidates for each office to which two or more persons are to be elected at large alphabetically for the respective offices for the first precinct on the list; thereafter, for each political party and for each succeeding precinct, the names appearing first for the respective offices in the last preceding precinct shall be placed last, so that the names that were second before the change shall be first after the change. The commissioner may also rotate the names of candidates of a political party in the reverse order of that provided in this subsection or alternate the rotation so that the candidates of different parties shall not be paired as they proceed through the rotation. The procedure for arrangement of names on ballots provided in this section shall likewise be substantially followed in elections in political subdivisions of less than a county.
EXPLANATION
The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly.
   This bill relates to the administration and conduct of election activities.
   Division I of the bill prohibits persons from sending unsolicited political advertisements using text or multimedia messages to mobile electronic devices. The bill requires any person sending an unsolicited political advertisement to first receive permission from the intended recipient. Any person who sends unsolicited political advertisements without receiving permission is liable for a civil penalty of $50 for each telephone number contacted without first receiving permission, up to a total of $5,000.
   Division II of the bill relates to the arrangement of election ballots for certain partisan offices. Under the bill, a county commissioner of elections is required to arrange the ballot so that the candidates of each political party for most partisan offices appearing on the ballot appear in descending order so that the candidates of the political party whose registered voters voted in the greatest number in the commissioner’s county at the preceding gubernatorial election appear first on the ballot, and the candidates of the political party whose registered voters voted in the next greatest number in the commissioner’s county at such an election appear next on the ballot, and continuing in descending order in the same manner.