SF 53 (LSB 1036XS (3) 89)

SENATE FILE 53

BY  JOCHUM

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to the electronic delivery of ballots to persons with certain physical disabilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 53.2, subsection 2, Code 2021, is amended by adding the following new paragraph:
   NEW PARAGRAPH.  d.  Absentee ballot applications shall include a space for a registered voter with a physical disability that prevents the registered voter from reading or marking a printed ballot without assistance from another person to request that an absentee ballot be delivered to the registered voter electronically. A voter requesting that an absentee ballot be delivered electronically shall explain why the voter cannot read or mark a physical absentee ballot without assistance from another person. The state commissioner shall adopt rules regarding the form of electronic absentee ballots.
    Sec. 2.  Section 53.8, subsection 1, paragraph a, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2021, is amended to read as follows:
   Upon receipt of an application for an absentee ballot and immediately after the absentee ballots are printed, but not more than twenty-nine days before the election, the commissioner shall mail an absentee ballot to the applicant within twenty-four hours, except as otherwise provided in subsection 3 or 4. When the United States post office is closed in observance of a federal holiday and is not delivering mail on the twenty-ninth day before the election, the first day to mail absentee ballots is the next business day on which mail delivery is available. The absentee ballot shall be sent to the registered voter by one of the following methods:
    Sec. 3.  Section 53.8, subsection 3, paragraph c, Code 2021, is amended to read as follows:
   c.  Nothing in this subsection nor in section 53.22 shall be construed to prohibit a registered voter who is a hospital patient or resident of a health care facility, or who anticipates entering a hospital or health care facility before the date of a forthcoming election, from casting an absentee ballot in the manner prescribed by section 53.10 or 53.11, or from completing an electronic absentee ballot in the manner prescribed by subsection 4.
    Sec. 4.  Section 53.8, Code 2021, is amended by adding the following new subsection:
   NEW SUBSECTION.  4.  a.  (1)  When an application for an absentee ballot is received by the commissioner from a voter who has indicated that the voter has a physical disability that prevents the voter from reading or marking a printed ballot without assistance from another person, the commissioner shall determine whether the voter qualifies to receive an electronic absentee ballot. If the commissioner determines that the voter qualifies to receive an electronic absentee ballot, the commissioner shall transmit an electronic absentee ballot to the voter in a form that allows the voter to electronically read and mark the ballot on a personal computer without the assistance of another person. An electronic absentee ballot shall not be transmitted prior to the mailing of physical absentee ballots. In addition to an electronic absentee ballot, the commissioner shall mail all physical materials other than an absentee ballot as provided in subsections 1 and 2.
   (2)  If the commissioner determines that the voter does not qualify to receive an electronic absentee ballot, the commissioner shall inform the voter by the best means available that the voter does not qualify to receive an electronic absentee ballot, the reason for the rejection, and that the voter shall be mailed a physical absentee ballot.
   b.  An electronic absentee ballot completed pursuant to paragraph “a” shall be printed by the voter and returned to the commissioner as provided in section 53.17, using the same method as required for physical absentee ballots in that election. An electronic absentee ballot shall not be returned electronically.
   c.  The state commissioner shall adopt rules for the transmission and marking of electronic absentee ballots.
    Sec. 5.  Section 53.22, subsection 2, paragraph a, subparagraph (1), Code 2021, is amended to read as follows:
   (1)  A registered voter who has applied for an absentee ballot, in a manner other than that prescribed by section 53.10 or 53.11, or by section 53.8, subsection 4, and who is a resident, tenant, or patient in a health care facility, assisted living program, or hospital located in the county to which the application has been submitted shall be delivered the appropriate absentee ballot by two special precinct election officers, one of whom shall be a member of each of the political parties referred to in section 49.13, who shall be appointed by the commissioner from the election board panel for the special precinct established by section 53.20. The special precinct election officers shall be sworn in the manner provided by section 49.75 for election board members, shall receive compensation as provided in section 49.20, and shall perform their duties during the ten calendar days after the ballots are printed if the commissioner so elects, during the fourteen calendar days preceding the election, and on election day if all ballots requested under section 53.8, subsection 3, have not previously been delivered and returned.
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 electronic delivery of absentee ballots to certain persons. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to include a space on absentee ballot request forms for a voter to indicate that the voter wants to receive an electronic absentee ballot because the voter has a physical disability that prevents the voter from reading and marking a physical ballot without the assistance of another person. If, upon receipt of an absentee ballot request form, the county commissioner of elections determines that the voter qualifies to receive an electronic absentee ballot, the county commissioner shall transmit an electronic absentee ballot to the voter at the time that physical absentee ballots are mailed. If the county commissioner determines that the voter does not qualify to receive an electronic absentee ballot, the county commissioner shall inform the voter of the rejection, the reason therefore, and that the voter will receive a physical absentee ballot.
   The bill requires an electronic absentee ballot to be transmitted in a form that allows the voter to read and mark the ballot using a personal computer. The bill then requires the voter to print the absentee ballot and return it in the same manner as prescribed for physical absentee ballots. The bill does not allow a voter to return an absentee ballot electronically. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to adopt rules regarding the form, transmission, and marking of electronic absentee ballots.