HF 2366 (LSB 6127HV (3) 85)

HOUSE FILE 2366

BY  COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT

(SUCCESSOR TO HSB 622)

(As Amended and Passed by the House 2014-03-04)

A BILL FOR

An Act relating to local elections and voter registration by providing for electronic storage of voter registration applications by a county and by providing changes in the process for filling vacancies in elective city office.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:

    Section 1.  Section 48A.35, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   48A.35  Voter registration records under control of the commissioner.
   1.  The county commissioner of elections shall be responsible for the maintenance and storage of all paper and electronic voter registration records in the commissioner’s custody. Original registration records shall not be removed from the commissioner’s office or from any other designated permanent storage location except upon request of a county commissioner or a court order, as provided in subsection 2, or as provided by section 48A.32. The state registrar of voters and the state voter registration commission shall adopt administrative rules to implement this section.
   2.  The county commissioner of elections may store an unaltered version of completed voter registration applications, including the applicant’s signature, as an electronic document, or in another format suitable for preserving information in the registration record, regardless of the format in which the application is submitted.
    Sec. 2.  Section 372.13, subsection 2, paragraph a, Code 2014, is amended to read as follows:
   a.  (1)  By appointment by the remaining members of the council, except that if the remaining members do not constitute a quorum of the full membership, paragraph “b” shall be followed. The appointment shall be made within sixty days after the vacancy occurs and shall be for the period until the next pending election as defined in section 69.12, and shall be made within forty days after the vacancy occurs regular city election described in section 376.1, unless there is an intervening special election for that city, in which event the election for the office shall be placed on the ballot at such special election.
   (2)  If the council chooses to proceed under this paragraph, it shall publish notice in the manner prescribed by section 362.3, stating that the council intends to fill the vacancy by appointment but that the electors of the city or ward, as the case may be, have the right to file a petition requiring that the vacancy be filled by a special election. The council may publish notice in advance if an elected official submits a resignation to take effect at a future date. The council may make an appointment to fill the vacancy after the notice is published or after the vacancy occurs, whichever is later. However, if within fourteen days after publication of the notice or within fourteen days after the appointment is made, there is filed with the city clerk a petition which requests a special election to fill the vacancy, an appointment to fill the vacancy is temporary and the council shall call a special election to fill the vacancy permanently, under paragraph “b”. The number of signatures of eligible electors of a city for a valid petition shall be determined as follows:
   (1)  (a)  For a city with a population of ten thousand or less, at least two hundred signatures or at least the number of signatures equal to fifteen percent of the voters who voted for candidates for the office at the preceding regular election at which the office was on the ballot, whichever number is fewer.
   (2)  (b)  For a city with a population of more than ten thousand but not more than fifty thousand, at least one thousand signatures or at least the number of signatures equal to fifteen percent of the voters who voted for candidates for the office at the preceding regular election at which the office was on the ballot, whichever number is fewer.
   (3)  (c)  For a city with a population of more than fifty thousand, at least two thousand signatures or at least the number of signatures equal to ten percent of the voters who voted for candidates for the office at the preceding regular election at which the office was on the ballot, whichever number is fewer.
   (4)  (d)  The minimum number of signatures for a valid petition pursuant to subparagraphs (1) subparagraph divisions (a) through (3) (c) shall not be fewer than ten. In determining the minimum number of signatures required, if at the last preceding election more than one position was to be filled for the office in which the vacancy exists, the number of voters who voted for candidates for the office shall be determined by dividing the total number of votes cast for the office by the number of seats to be filled.