Senate File 271 - Introduced SENATE FILE 271 BY JOCHUM A BILL FOR An Act relating to the conduct of elections, including the 1 recounting of ballots, the mailing of absentee ballots, and 2 in-person absentee voting. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 2204XS (4) 90 ss/ns

S.F. 271 Section 1. Section 50.48, subsection 3, Code 2023, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 3. a. The recount shall be conducted or overseen by a board 3 which shall consist of one of the following : 4 (1) For a county with a population of fewer than twenty-five 5 thousand: 6 (1) (a) A designee Two designees of the candidate 7 requesting the recount, who shall be named in the written 8 request when it is filed. 9 (2) (b) A designee Two designees of the apparent winning 10 candidate, who shall be named by that candidate at or before 11 the time the board is required to convene. 12 (3) (c) A person chosen jointly by the members designated 13 under subparagraphs (1) subparagraph divisions (a) and (2) (b) . 14 (2) For a county with a population of at least twenty-five 15 thousand but less than ninety thousand: 16 (a) Three designees of the candidate requesting the 17 recount, who shall be named in the written request when it is 18 filed. 19 (b) Three designees of the apparent winning candidate, who 20 shall be named by that candidate at or before the time the 21 board is required to convene. 22 (c) A person chosen jointly by the members designated under 23 subparagraph divisions (a) and (b). 24 (3) For a county with a population of ninety thousand or 25 greater: 26 (a) Three designees of the candidate requesting the 27 recount, who shall be named in the written request when it is 28 filed. 29 (b) Three designees of the apparent winning candidate, who 30 shall be named by that candidate at or before the time the 31 board is required to convene. 32 (c) Three persons chosen jointly by the members designated 33 under subparagraph divisions (a) and (b). 34 b. The commissioner shall convene the persons designated 35 -1- LSB 2204XS (4) 90 ss/ns 1/ 5

S.F. 271 under paragraph “a” , subparagraphs subparagraph (1) and , 1 subparagraph divisions (a) and (b), paragraph “a” , subparagraph 2 (2), subparagraph divisions (a) and (b), or paragraph “a” , 3 subparagraph (3), subparagraph divisions (a) and (b), not later 4 than 9:00 a.m. on the seventh day following the county board’s 5 canvass of the election in question. If those two members 6 cannot agree on the third additional member or members by 7 8:00 a.m. on the ninth day following the canvass, they shall 8 immediately so notify the chief judge of the judicial district 9 in which the canvass is occurring, who shall appoint the third 10 additional member or members not later than 5:00 p.m. on the 11 eleventh day following the canvass. 12 Sec. 2. Section 50.48, subsection 4, paragraphs a and c, 13 Code 2023, are amended to read as follows: 14 a. When all members of the recount board have been selected, 15 the board shall undertake and complete the required recount 16 as expeditiously as reasonably possible. The recount board 17 may conduct the recount or may direct the county commissioner 18 and the county commissioner’s staff to conduct the recount. 19 The recount board shall oversee any recount conducted by the 20 county commissioner and the county commissioner’s staff. The 21 commissioner or the commissioner’s designee shall supervise the 22 handling of ballots to ensure that the ballots are protected 23 from alteration or damage. The board or county commissioner 24 shall open only the sealed ballot containers from the precincts 25 specified to be recounted in the request or by the recount 26 board. The board or county commissioner shall recount only 27 the ballots which were voted and counted for the office in 28 question, including any disputed ballots returned as required 29 in section 50.5 . If automatic tabulating equipment was used 30 to count the ballots, the The recount board may request the 31 commissioner to retabulate the ballots using the automatic 32 tabulating equipment on a per precinct basis, and the recount 33 board shall visually examine each ballot that the automatic 34 tabulating equipment identifies as containing an undervote, an 35 -2- LSB 2204XS (4) 90 ss/ns 2/ 5

S.F. 271 overvote, or a write-in vote to determine voter intent . The 1 same program used for tabulating the votes on election day 2 shall be used at the recount unless the program is believed or 3 known to be flawed. 4 c. The ballots shall be resealed by the recount board 5 or county commissioner before adjournment and shall be 6 preserved as required by section 50.12 . At the conclusion of 7 the recount, the recount board shall make and file with the 8 commissioner a written report of its findings, which shall be 9 signed by at least two two-thirds of the members of the recount 10 board. The recount board shall complete the recount and file 11 its report not later than the eighteenth day following the 12 county board’s canvass of the election in question. 13 Sec. 3. Section 53.8, subsection 1, paragraph a, unnumbered 14 paragraph 1, Code 2023, is amended to read as follows: 15 Upon receipt of an application for an absentee ballot and 16 immediately after the absentee ballots are printed, but not 17 more than twenty forty-five days before the election, the 18 commissioner shall mail an absentee ballot to the applicant 19 within twenty-four hours, except as otherwise provided in 20 subsection 3 . The absentee ballot shall be sent to the 21 registered voter by one of the following methods: 22 Sec. 4. Section 53.10, subsection 1, Code 2023, is amended 23 to read as follows: 24 1. Not more than twenty forty-five days before the date of 25 the primary election or the general election, the commissioner 26 shall provide facilities for absentee voting in person at the 27 commissioner’s office. This service shall also be provided 28 for other elections as soon as the ballots are ready, but in 29 no case shall absentee ballots be available under this section 30 more than twenty forty-five days before an election. 31 Sec. 5. Section 53.11, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code 2023, 32 is amended to read as follows: 33 a. Not more than twenty forty-five days before the date 34 of an election, satellite absentee voting stations shall be 35 -3- LSB 2204XS (4) 90 ss/ns 3/ 5

S.F. 271 established upon receipt of a petition signed by not less than 1 one hundred eligible electors requesting that a satellite 2 absentee voting station be established at a location to be 3 described on the petition. However, if a special election is 4 scheduled in the county on a date that falls between the date 5 of the regular city election and the date of the city runoff 6 election, the commissioner is not required to establish a 7 satellite absentee voting station for the city runoff election. 8 EXPLANATION 9 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 10 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 11 This bill relates to the conduct of elections, including the 12 recounting of ballots, the mailing of absentee ballots, and 13 in-person absentee voting. 14 The ballot changes the size of a recount board based on the 15 population of the county. For a county with a population of 16 fewer than 25,000, the bill requires a recount board to consist 17 of two designees of each contestant and one person agreed upon 18 by the designees. For a county with a population of at least 19 25,000 but less than 90,000, the bill requires a recount board 20 to consist of three designees of each contestant and one person 21 agreed upon by the designees. For a county with a population 22 of 90,000 or greater, the bill requires a recount board to 23 consist of three designees of each contestant and three persons 24 agreed upon by the designees. The bill requires a report of a 25 recount board to be signed by two-thirds of the members of the 26 board. 27 The bill allows the recount board to direct the county 28 commissioner or the county commissioner’s staff to conduct a 29 recount. The board requires the recount board to oversee any 30 recount conducted by the county commissioner or the county 31 commissioner’s staff. 32 The bill allows a recount to be conducted on a per precinct 33 basis using automatic tabulating equipment. The bill requires 34 the recount board to visually examine each ballot that the 35 -4- LSB 2204XS (4) 90 ss/ns 4/ 5

S.F. 271 equipment identifies as containing an undervote, an overvote, 1 or a write-in vote to determine voter intent. 2 The bill allows a county commissioner of elections to begin 3 the mailing of absentee ballots starting 45 days before an 4 election. The bill also allows in-person absentee voting at 5 a county commissioner’s office or at a satellite location to 6 begin 45 days before an election. 7 -5- LSB 2204XS (4) 90 ss/ns 5/ 5