Bill Text: IA SF2142 | 2015-2016 | 86th General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to voter registration and voting by lowering the age at which a person may register to vote and the age at which a registered voter is eligible to vote in a primary election and including effective date provisions. (Formerly SF 2001.)

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-03-18 - Rereferred to State Government. H.J. 507. [SF2142 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2015-SF2142-Amended.html

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Senate File 2142 - Reprinted




                                 SENATE FILE       
                                 BY  COMMITTEE ON STATE
                                     GOVERNMENT

                                 (SUCCESSOR TO SF 2001)
       (As Amended and Passed by the Senate March 1, 2016)

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to voter registration and voting by lowering
  2    the age at which a person may register to vote and the age
  3    at which a registered voter is eligible to vote in a primary
  4    election and including effective date provisions.
  5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
    SF 2142 (3) 86
    aw/sc/jh

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 48A.5, subsection 2, paragraph c, Code
  1  2 2016, is amended to read as follows:
  1  3    c.  (1)  Be at least eighteen years of age.  However,
  1  4 for purposes of voting in a primary election, an eligible
  1  5 elector shall be at least eighteen years of age on the date
  1  6 of the general election. Completed registration forms shall
  1  7 be accepted from registrants who are at least seventeen and
  1  8 one=half years of age; however,. For an election other than a
  1  9 primary election, the registration shall not be effective until
  1 10 the registrant reaches the age of eighteen. The commissioner
  1 11 of registration shall ensure that the birth date shown on the
  1 12 registration form is at least seventeen and one=half years
  1 13 earlier than the date the registration is processed.
  1 14    (2)  A registrant who is at least seventeen and one=half
  1 15  years of age and who will be eighteen by the date of a pending
  1 16 election is a registered voter for the pending election for
  1 17 purposes of chapter 53.  For purposes of voting in a primary
  1 18 election under chapter 53, a registrant who will be at least
  1 19 eighteen years of age by the date of the general election is a
  1 20 registered voter for the pending primary election.
  1 21    Sec. 2.  Section 48A.11, subsection 3, Code 2016, is amended
  1 22 to read as follows:
  1 23    3.  The following questions and statement regarding
  1 24 eligibility shall be included on forms that may be used for
  1 25 registration by mail:
  1 26 [1]  "Are you a citizen of the United States of America?"
  1 27 [2]  "Will you be eighteen years of age on or before election
  1 28 day?"
  1 29 [3]  "If you checked 'no' in response to either of these
  1 30 questions, do not complete this form.  However, for purposes
  1 31 of voting in a primary election, you may complete this form if
  1 32 you are a citizen of the United States of America and you will
  1 33 be at least eighteen years of age on the date of the general
  1 34 election."
  1 35    Sec. 3.  Section 48A.14, subsection 1, paragraph b, Code
  2  1 2016, is amended to read as follows:
  2  2    b.  The challenged registrant is less than seventeen and
  2  3 one=half years of age.
  2  4    Sec. 4.  Section 48A.23, subsection 1, Code 2016, is amended
  2  5 to read as follows:
  2  6    1.  At least twice during each school year, the board of
  2  7 directors of each school district operating a high school and
  2  8 the authorities in charge of each accredited nonpublic school
  2  9 shall offer the opportunity to register to vote to each student
  2 10 who is at least seventeen and one=half years of age.
  2 11    Sec. 5.  Section 48A.26, subsection 9, Code 2016, is amended
  2 12 to read as follows:
  2 13    9.  When a person who is at least seventeen and one=half
  2 14  years of age but less than eighteen years of age registers
  2 15 to vote, the commissioner shall maintain a record of the
  2 16 registration so as to clearly indicate that it will not take
  2 17 effect until the registrant's eighteenth birthday and that the
  2 18 person is registered and qualifies to vote at any election
  2 19 held on or after that date.  However, for purposes of voting
  2 20 in a primary election, the registration shall take effect
  2 21 immediately if the person will be at least eighteen years of
  2 22 age on the date of the general election.
  2 23    Sec. 6.  Section 48A.31, Code 2016, is amended to read as
  2 24 follows:
  2 25    48A.31  Deceased persons record.
  2 26    The state registrar of vital statistics shall transmit
  2 27 or cause to be transmitted to the state registrar of voters,
  2 28 once each calendar quarter, a certified list of all persons
  2 29 seventeen and one=half years of age and older in the state
  2 30 whose deaths have been reported to the bureau of vital records
  2 31 of the Iowa department of public health since the previous list
  2 32 of decedents was certified to the state registrar of voters.
  2 33 The list shall be submitted according to the specifications
  2 34 of the state registrar of voters. The commissioner shall, in
  2 35 the month following the end of a calendar quarter, run the
  3  1 statewide voter registration system's matching program to
  3  2 determine whether a listed decedent was registered to vote in
  3  3 the county and shall immediately cancel the registration of any
  3  4 person named on the list of decedents.
  3  5    Sec. 7.  Section 49.79, subsection 2, paragraph b, Code 2016,
  3  6 is amended to read as follows:
  3  7    b.  The For an election other than a primary election, the
  3  8  challenged person is less than eighteen years of age as of the
  3  9 date of the election at which the person is offering to vote.
  3 10 For a primary election, the challenged person will be less than
  3 11 eighteen years of age on the date of the general election.
  3 12    Sec. 8.  Section 49.81, subsection 4, paragraph a, Code 2016,
  3 13 is amended to read as follows:
  3 14    a.  (1)  The individual envelopes used for each provisional
  3 15 ballot cast pursuant to subsection 1 shall have space for the
  3 16 voter's name, date of birth, and address and shall have printed
  3 17 on them the following:
  3 18 I am a United States citizen, at least eighteen years of age
  3 19 or, for purposes of voting in the primary election, I will
  3 20 be at least eighteen years of age on the date of the general
  3 21 election. I believe I am a registered voter of this county and
  3 22 I am eligible to vote in this election.
  3 23 .............
  3 24 (signature of voter) (date)
  3 25    (2)  The following information is to be provided by the
  3 26 precinct election official:
  3 27 Reason for casting provisional ballot:
  3 28 .................
  3 29 .................
  3 30 ...........
  3 31                     (signature of precinct
  3 32                     election official)
  3 33    Sec. 9.  Section 280.9A, subsection 3, Code 2016, is amended
  3 34 to read as follows:
  3 35    3.  At least twice during each school year, the board of
  4  1 directors of each local public school district operating a
  4  2 high school and the authorities in charge of each accredited
  4  3 nonpublic school operating a high school shall offer the
  4  4 opportunity to register to vote to each student who is at least
  4  5 seventeen and one=half years of age, as required by section
  4  6 48A.23.
  4  7    Sec. 10.  Section 602.8102, subsection 15, Code 2016, is
  4  8 amended to read as follows:
  4  9    15.  Monthly, notify the county commissioner of registration
  4 10 and the state registrar of voters of persons seventeen and
  4 11 one=half years of age and older who have been convicted of a
  4 12 felony during the preceding calendar month or persons who at
  4 13 any time during the preceding calendar month have been legally
  4 14 declared to be a person who is incompetent to vote as that term
  4 15 is defined in section 48A.2.
  4 16    Sec. 11.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect January 1,
  4 17 2017.
       SF 2142 (3) 86
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