Bill Text: IA HF692 | 2019-2020 | 88th General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to the conduct of state and local elections, providing penalties, and including effective date elections provisions. (Formerly HF 608.) Effective 7-1-19, with exception of Division II, effective 5-16-19 and Division IV, effective 1-1-23.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Passed) 2019-05-16 - Signed by Governor. H.J. 1083. [HF692 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2019-HF692-Introduced.html
House File 692 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 692 BY COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT (SUCCESSOR TO HF 608) A BILL FOR An Act relating to the tracking and counting of mailed absentee 1 ballots. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 2429HV (2) 88 ss/jh
H.F. 692 Section 1. Section 53.17, subsection 1, paragraph b, Code 1 2019, is amended to read as follows: 2 b. The sealed return envelope may be mailed to the 3 commissioner by the registered voter or by the voter’s 4 designee. If mailed by the voter’s designee, the envelope 5 must be mailed within seventy-two hours of retrieving it from 6 the voter or within time to be postmarked or, if applicable, 7 to have the intelligent mail postal service barcode traced to 8 a date of entry into the federal mail system not later than 9 the day before the election, as provided in section 53.17A, 10 whichever is earlier. 11 Sec. 2. Section 53.17, subsection 2, Code 2019, is amended 12 to read as follows: 13 2. In order for the ballot to be counted, the return 14 envelope must be received in the commissioner’s office before 15 the polls close on election day or be clearly postmarked by an 16 officially authorized postal service or bear an intelligent 17 mail a postal service barcode traceable to a date of entry 18 into the federal mail system not later than the day before the 19 election , as provided in section 53.17A, and received by the 20 commissioner not later than noon on the Monday following the 21 election. 22 Sec. 3. Section 53.17, subsection 4, paragraph f, Code 2019, 23 is amended to read as follows: 24 f. A statement that the completed absentee ballot will 25 be delivered to the commissioner’s office within seventy-two 26 hours of retrieving it from the voter or before the closing of 27 the polls on election day, whichever is earlier, or that the 28 completed absentee ballot will be mailed to the commissioner 29 within seventy-two hours of retrieving it from the voter or 30 within time to be postmarked or, if applicable, to have the 31 intelligent mail postal service barcode traced to a date of 32 entry into the federal mail system not later than the day 33 before the election, as provided in section 53.17A, whichever 34 is earlier. 35 -1- LSB 2429HV (2) 88 ss/jh 1/ 6
H.F. 692 Sec. 4. NEW SECTION . 53.17A Absentee ballot tracking. 1 1. For the purposes of this chapter: 2 a. “Postal service barcode” means a barcode purchased by the 3 sender and supplied by the United States postal service that is 4 used to sort and track letters and flat packages and is printed 5 on an absentee ballot return envelope at the direction of the 6 commissioner before the envelope is sent to the voter. 7 b. “Tracking information database” means a database 8 administered by the United States postal service that is 9 accessible to the commissioner and contains information 10 regarding letters or flat packages. 11 2. a. Prior to implementing for the first time, 12 discontinuing the usage of, or reimplementing the usage 13 of a postal service barcode and tracking information, the 14 commissioner shall send notice to the state commissioner prior 15 to October 1, 2020, for an election taking place in 2020 after 16 that date, and by October 1 of each year thereafter. 17 b. The commissioner shall not implement or discontinue 18 the use of a postal service barcode or tracking information 19 database during an election after an absentee ballot has been 20 mailed for that election pursuant to section 53.8. 21 c. The state commissioner shall adopt rules regarding 22 the statewide implementation of a postal service barcode and 23 tracking information database, including procedures to be 24 followed when usage of a postal service barcode or the tracking 25 information database is negatively impacted. Each commissioner 26 shall use a postal service barcode and tracking information 27 database consistent with rules of the state commissioner. 28 Every commissioner shall send notice to the state commissioner 29 and implement the use of a postal service barcode and tracking 30 information database prior to October 1, 2020. 31 3. a. An absentee ballot received after the polls close 32 on election day but prior to the official canvass shall be 33 counted if the commissioner determines that the ballot entered 34 the federal mail system by the deadline specified in section 35 -2- LSB 2429HV (2) 88 ss/jh 2/ 6
H.F. 692 53.17 or 53.22. The date of entry of such an absentee ballot 1 into the federal mail system shall only be verified as provided 2 in paragraph “b” . 3 b. (1) If the postmark indicates that the absentee ballot 4 entered the federal mail system by the deadline specified 5 in section 53.17 or 53.22, the ballot shall be included for 6 canvass by the absentee and special voters precinct board. 7 (2) If the postmark is illegible, missing, or dated on or 8 after election day, the commissioner shall attempt to verify 9 the ballot’s date of entry into the federal mail system by 10 querying the postal service barcode in the tracking information 11 database. If the tracking information database indicates that 12 the absentee ballot entered the federal mail system by the 13 deadline specified in section 53.17 or 53.22, the ballot shall 14 be included for canvass by the absentee and special voters 15 precinct board. The commissioner shall provide a report to 16 the absentee and special voters precinct board regarding the 17 information available in the tracking information database. 18 (3) If there is a discrepancy between the date indicated by 19 the postmark and the postal service barcode, the earlier of the 20 two shall determine the date of entry of the absentee ballot 21 into the federal mail system. 22 (4) (a) If neither the postmark nor the postal service 23 barcode indicates that the absentee ballot entered the federal 24 mail system by the deadline specified in section 53.17 or 25 53.22, the absentee ballot shall be sent to the absentee 26 and special voters precinct board pursuant to subparagraph 27 division (b) with the numeric value assigned to the postal 28 service barcode and a full report from the tracking information 29 database. 30 (b) An absentee and special voters precinct board member 31 from each political party for partisan elections, or any 32 two members of the board for nonpartisan elections, shall 33 review the postal service barcode and tracking database 34 information report of each absentee ballot submitted pursuant 35 -3- LSB 2429HV (2) 88 ss/jh 3/ 6
H.F. 692 to subparagraph division (a) and certify that the tracking 1 information database report corresponds to the absentee ballot 2 by initialing the report and the absentee ballot envelope. 3 If the board concludes that the postal service barcode and 4 tracking information database report verify that the absentee 5 ballot entered the federal mail system by the deadline 6 specified in section 53.17 or 53.22, the ballot shall be 7 counted. Otherwise, the ballot shall not be counted. 8 4. The commissioner shall file a report regarding absentee 9 ballot tracking and counting for each general election no later 10 than December 1 following each general election. The report 11 shall be in a form prescribed by the state commissioner. 12 Sec. 5. Section 53.22, subsection 6, paragraph b, Code 2019, 13 is amended to read as follows: 14 b. Absentee ballots voted under this subsection shall be 15 delivered to the commissioner no later than the time the polls 16 are closed on election day. If the ballot is returned by mail 17 the return envelope must be received by the time the polls 18 close, or be clearly postmarked by an officially authorized 19 postal service or bear an intelligent mail a postal service 20 barcode traceable to a date of entry into the federal mail 21 system not later than the day before the election , as provided 22 in section 53.17A, and received by the commissioner no later 23 than the time established for the canvass by the board of 24 supervisors for that election. 25 EXPLANATION 26 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 27 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 28 This bill creates a system for the tracking and counting 29 of mailed absentee ballots. The bill, consistent with rules 30 of the state commissioner of elections, requires a county 31 commissioner of elections to implement a system for the 32 tracking and counting of absentee ballots utilizing a postal 33 service barcode printed on absentee ballot envelopes by the 34 commissioner and a tracking information database containing the 35 -4- LSB 2429HV (2) 88 ss/jh 4/ 6
H.F. 692 tracking information for absentee ballots. The commissioner 1 must send notice to the state commissioner of elections by 2 October 1 prior to using such a system for the first time, 3 discontinuing such a system, or reimplements such a system. 4 The bill provides that a mailed absentee ballot that arrives 5 after the polls close on election day shall only be counted 6 after it is verified that the ballot entered the federal mail 7 system by the day before election day. If the postmark or 8 postal service barcode indicates that the ballot entered the 9 federal mail system by the day before election day, the ballot 10 shall be included for canvass by the absentee and special 11 voters precinct board. If there is a discrepancy between the 12 date indicated by the postmark and the postal service barcode, 13 the earlier date shall be used to determine the date the ballot 14 entered the federal mail system. If the commissioner uses a 15 postal service barcode to verify the date of entry of a ballot 16 into the federal mail system, the commissioner shall send a 17 report detailing the information in the tracking information 18 database to the absentee and special voters precinct board. 19 If neither the postmark nor the postal service barcode 20 indicates that the ballot entered the federal mail system by 21 the deadline, the ballot shall be sent to the absentee and 22 special voters precinct board with the numeric value assigned 23 to the postal service barcode and a report from the tracking 24 information database. A member of the board for each party, 25 or, for nonpartisan elections, any two members of the board, 26 shall examine the barcode and tracking information and verify 27 that they correspond to the absentee ballot. If the board 28 concludes that the postal service barcode and the report from 29 the tracking information database indicate that the absentee 30 ballot entered the federal mail system by the deadline, the 31 ballot shall be counted. Otherwise, the ballot shall not be 32 counted. 33 The bill requires each commissioner to file a report 34 regarding absentee ballot tracking and counting for each 35 -5- LSB 2429HV (2) 88 ss/jh 5/ 6
H.F. 692 general election no later than December 1 following each 1 general election in a form prescribed by the state commissioner 2 of elections. 3 -6- LSB 2429HV (2) 88 ss/jh 6/ 6
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