Bill Text: IA SF339 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to the number of days available for voters to vote absentee ballots, and including applicability provisions.

Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2017-03-02 - Subcommittee: Feenstra, Chapman, and Jochum. S.J. 457. [SF339 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2017-SF339-Introduced.html

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Senate File 339 - Introduced




                                 SENATE FILE       
                                 BY  BERTRAND

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act relating to the number of days available for voters
  2    to vote absentee ballots, and including applicability
  3    provisions.
  4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
    TLSB 1977XS (4) 87
    aw/sc/jh

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 53.8, subsection 1, paragraph a,
  1  2 unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2017, is amended to read as
  1  3 follows:
  1  4    Upon receipt of an application for an absentee ballot and
  1  5 immediately after the absentee ballots are printed, but not
  1  6 more than fifteen days before the election, the commissioner
  1  7 shall mail an absentee ballot to the applicant within
  1  8 twenty=four hours, except as otherwise provided in subsection
  1  9 3. The absentee ballot shall be sent to the registered voter
  1 10 by one of the following methods:
  1 11    Sec. 2.  Section 53.8, subsection 3, paragraph b, Code 2017,
  1 12 is amended to read as follows:
  1 13    b.(1)  If the application is received more than five days
  1 14 before the ballots are printed and the commissioner has elected
  1 15 to have the ballots personally delivered during the ten=day
  1 16 period after the ballots are printed, the commissioner shall
  1 17 mail to the applicant within twenty=four hours a letter in
  1 18 substantially the following form:
  1 19 Your application for an absentee ballot for the election
  1 20 to be held on ...... has been received. This ballot will
  1 21 be personally delivered to you by a bipartisan team sometime
  1 22 during the ten days after the ballots are printed. If you will
  1 23 not be at the address from which your application was sent
  1 24 during any or all of the ten=day period immediately following
  1 25 the printing of the ballots, the ballot will be personally
  1 26 delivered to you sometime during the fourteen days preceding
  1 27 the election. If you will not be at the address from which
  1 28 your application was sent during either of these time periods,
  1 29 contact this office and arrangements will be made to have your
  1 30 absentee ballot delivered at a time when you will be present at
  1 31 that address.
  1 32    (2)  If the application is received more than fourteen
  1 33  fifteen calendar days before the election and the commissioner
  1 34 has not elected to mail absentee ballots to applicants as
  1 35 provided under section 53.22, subsection 3, and has not elected
  2  1 to have the absentee ballots personally delivered during the
  2  2 ten=day period after the ballots are printed, the commissioner
  2  3 shall mail to the applicant within twenty=four hours a letter
  2  4 in substantially the following form:
  2  5 Your application for an absentee ballot for the election
  2  6 to be held on ...... has been received. This ballot will
  2  7 be personally delivered to you by a bipartisan team sometime
  2  8 during the fourteen fifteen days preceding the election. If
  2  9 you will not be at the address from which your application
  2 10 was sent during any or all of the fourteen=day period fifteen
  2 11 calendar days immediately preceding the election, contact this
  2 12 office and arrangements will be made to have your absentee
  2 13 ballot delivered at a time when you will be present at that
  2 14 address.
  2 15    Sec. 3.  Section 53.10, subsection 1, Code 2017, is amended
  2 16 to read as follows:
  2 17    1.  Not more than forty fifteen days before the date of the
  2 18 primary election or the general election, the commissioner
  2 19 shall provide facilities for absentee voting in person at the
  2 20 commissioner's office. This service shall also be provided
  2 21 for other elections as soon as the ballots are ready, but in
  2 22 no case shall absentee ballots be available under this section
  2 23  more than forty fifteen days before an election.
  2 24    Sec. 4.  Section 53.11, subsection 1, paragraph a, Code 2017,
  2 25 is amended to read as follows:
  2 26    a.  Satellite Not more than fifteen days before the date
  2 27 of an election, satellite absentee voting stations may be
  2 28 established throughout the cities and county at the direction
  2 29 of the commissioner and shall be established upon receipt
  2 30 of a petition signed by not less than one hundred eligible
  2 31 electors requesting that a satellite absentee voting station
  2 32 be established at a location to be described on the petition.
  2 33 However, if a special election is scheduled in the county on a
  2 34 date that falls between the date of the regular city election
  2 35 and the date of the city runoff election, the commissioner is
  3  1 not required to establish a satellite absentee voting station
  3  2 for the city runoff election.
  3  3    Sec. 5.  Section 53.22, subsection 1, paragraph a,
  3  4 subparagraph (1), Code 2017, is amended to read as follows:
  3  5    (1)  A registered voter who has applied for an absentee
  3  6 ballot, in a manner other than that prescribed by section
  3  7 53.10 or 53.11, and who is a resident or patient in a health
  3  8 care facility or hospital located in the county to which
  3  9 the application has been submitted shall be delivered the
  3 10 appropriate absentee ballot by two special precinct election
  3 11 officers, one of whom shall be a member of each of the
  3 12 political parties referred to in section 49.13, who shall be
  3 13 appointed by the commissioner from the election board panel
  3 14 for the special precinct established by section 53.20. The
  3 15 special precinct election officers shall be sworn in the manner
  3 16 provided by section 49.75 for election board members, shall
  3 17 receive compensation as provided in section 49.20, and shall
  3 18 perform their duties during the ten calendar days after the
  3 19 ballots are printed if the commissioner so elects, during the
  3 20 fourteen fifteen calendar days preceding the election, and
  3 21 on election day if all ballots requested under section 53.8,
  3 22 subsection 3, have not previously been delivered and returned.
  3 23    Sec. 6.  Section 53.22, subsection 1, paragraph b, Code 2017,
  3 24 is amended to read as follows:
  3 25    b.  If an applicant under this subsection notifies the
  3 26 commissioner that the applicant will not be available at the
  3 27 health care facility or hospital address at any time during the
  3 28 ten=day period after the ballots are printed, if applicable,
  3 29 or during the fourteen=day period fifteen calendar days
  3 30  immediately prior to the election, but will be available there
  3 31 at some other time prior to the election or on election day,
  3 32 the commissioner shall direct the two special precinct election
  3 33 officers to deliver the applicant's ballot at an appropriate
  3 34 time preceding the election or on election day. If a person
  3 35 who so requested an absentee ballot has been dismissed from
  4  1 the health care facility or hospital, the special precinct
  4  2 election officers may take the ballot to the voter if the voter
  4  3 is currently residing in the county.
  4  4    Sec. 7.  Section 53.39, subsection 2, Code 2017, is amended
  4  5 to read as follows:
  4  6    2.  All official ballots to be voted by qualified absent
  4  7 voters in the armed forces of the United States at the primary
  4  8 election and the general election shall be printed prior to
  4  9 forty=five sixty days before the respective elections and
  4 10 shall be available for transmittal to such qualified voters
  4 11 in the armed forces of the United States at least forty=five
  4 12  sixty days before the respective elections. The provisions of
  4 13 this chapter apply to absent voting by qualified voters in the
  4 14 armed forces of the United States except as modified by the
  4 15 provisions of this subchapter.
  4 16    Sec. 8.  Section 53.40, subsection 2, Code 2017, is amended
  4 17 to read as follows:
  4 18    2.  The commissioner shall immediately on the forty=fifth
  4 19  sixtieth day prior to the particular election transmit ballots
  4 20 to the voter by mail or otherwise, postage prepaid, as directed
  4 21 by the state commissioner, requests for which are in the
  4 22 commissioner's hands at that time, and thereafter so transmit
  4 23 ballots immediately upon receipt of requests. A request for
  4 24 ballot for the primary election which does not state the party
  4 25 affiliation of the voter making the request is void and of no
  4 26 effect. A request which does not show that the person for whom
  4 27 a ballot is requested will be a qualified voter in the precinct
  4 28 in which the ballot is to be cast on the day of the election for
  4 29 which the ballot is requested, shall not be honored. However,
  4 30 a request which states the age and the city, including street
  4 31 address, and county where the voter resides is sufficient to
  4 32 show that the person is a qualified voter. A request by the
  4 33 voter containing substantially the information required is
  4 34 sufficient.
  4 35    Sec. 9.  APPLICABILITY.  This Act applies to elections held
  5  1 on or after January 1, 2018.
  5  2                           EXPLANATION
  5  3 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  5  4 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  5  5    This bill relates to the number of days before an election
  5  6 that a county commissioner of elections is permitted to make
  5  7 absentee ballots available to voters.
  5  8    Under current law, absentee ballot applications may be
  5  9 submitted not more than 70 days before an election, and a
  5 10 county commissioner is required to mail absentee ballots
  5 11 immediately after printing or within 24 hours of receiving an
  5 12 application for such a ballot. The bill maintains the 70=day
  5 13 application period under current law, but prohibits a county
  5 14 commissioner from mailing an absentee ballot more than 15 days
  5 15 before an election.
  5 16    Under current law, a registered voter may vote an absentee
  5 17 ballot in person at a satellite absentee voting station or
  5 18 the county commissioner's office not more than 40 days before
  5 19 an election. Under the bill, a registered voter may vote
  5 20 an absentee ballot in person not more than 15 days before
  5 21 an election. The bill also requires that special precinct
  5 22 election officers deliver ballots to residents or patients in a
  5 23 health care facility or hospital during the 15 calendar days
  5 24 immediately prior to an election.
  5 25    Under current law, absentee ballots for military and
  5 26 overseas voters must be printed prior to 45 days before the
  5 27 election and the ballots for requests received are to be mailed
  5 28 beginning with the 45th day before the election. The bill
  5 29 changes these time periods to 60 days.
  5 30    The bill applies to elections held on or after January 1,
  5 31 2018.
       LSB 1977XS (4) 87
       aw/sc/jh