Bill Text: IA SSB3191 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: A bill for an act relating to the conduct of election activities, including the sending of certain electronic messages, ballot arrangement for certain partisan offices, and imposing penalties.

Spectrum: Committee Bill

Status: (N/A - Dead) 2018-02-15 - Subcommittee recommends passage. [SSB3191 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2017-SSB3191-Introduced.html
Senate Study Bill 3191 - Introduced SENATE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT BILL BY CHAIRPERSON SMITH) A BILL FOR An Act relating to the conduct of election activities, 1 including the sending of certain electronic messages, ballot 2 arrangement for certain partisan offices, and imposing 3 penalties. 4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 5 TLSB 5868XC (4) 87 ss/jh
S.F. _____ DIVISION I 1 ELECTRONIC MESSAGES 2 Section 1. NEW SECTION . 39A.5A Certain electronic messages 3 prohibited. 4 1. For the purposes of this section: 5 a. “Text or media message” means a message that contains 6 written, audio, video, or photographic content and is sent 7 electronically to a cellular telephone or mobile electronic 8 device telephone number, but does not include electronic mail 9 sent to an electronic mail address. 10 b. “Unsolicited political advertisement” means a text 11 or media message sent without the prior permission of the 12 recipient that includes express advocacy as defined in section 13 68A.102. 14 2. A person shall not send or cause to be sent to a resident 15 of this state an unsolicited political advertisement. 16 3. A person shall not send or cause to be sent to a 17 resident of this state a text or media message containing an 18 unsolicited political advertisement without first receiving 19 prior permission from the intended recipient which permission 20 includes the telephone number to which the text or media 21 message may be sent. The permission shall be revocable at any 22 time by submission of a request that includes the telephone 23 number for which permission is being revoked. 24 4. A person who violates this section shall be subject to 25 a civil penalty of fifty dollars for each telephone number to 26 which an unsolicited political advertisement is sent, up to a 27 maximum of five thousand dollars. Any penalties collected by 28 the secretary of state shall be forwarded to the treasurer of 29 state and deposited in the general fund of the state. 30 DIVISION II 31 BALLOT ORDER OF CANDIDATES 32 Sec. 2. Section 49.31, subsection 1, Code 2018, is amended 33 to read as follows: 34 1. a. All ballots shall be arranged with the names of 35 -1- LSB 5868XC (4) 87 ss/jh 1/ 4
S.F. _____ candidates for each office listed below the office title. 1 For partisan elections the name of the political party or 2 organization which nominated each candidate shall be listed 3 after or below each candidate’s name. 4 b. (1) The commissioner shall determine the order of 5 political parties and nonparty political organizations 6 candidates on the ballot as provided in paragraph “b” . The 7 sequence order shall be the same for each office on the 8 ballot and for each precinct in the county voting in the 9 election. The commissioner shall arrange the ballot so that 10 the candidates of each political party, as defined in section 11 43.2, for each partisan office appearing on the ballot shall 12 appear in descending order so that the candidates of the 13 political party whose registered voters voted in the greatest 14 number in the commissioner’s county at the preceding election 15 described in section 39.9 shall appear first on the ballot, and 16 the candidates of the political party whose registered voters 17 voted in the next greatest number in the commissioner’s county 18 at such election appear next on the ballot, and continuing in 19 descending order in the same manner. 20 (2) The commissioner shall determine the number of 21 registered voters from each political party who voted at each 22 election described in section 39.9 after the state registrar 23 has updated information on participation pursuant to section 24 48A.38, subsection 2, following such an election. 25 (3) If the number of registered voters from two or more 26 political parties voted in the same number in the county, the 27 commissioner shall determine the order of arranging political 28 party candidates for those political parties based upon the 29 numbers of registered voters who voted in the most recent 30 election described in section 39.9, for which the number of 31 registered voters from those political parties who voted in 32 such an election, were different. 33 c. The commissioner shall determine the order of candidates 34 of nonparty political organizations on the ballot. The order 35 -2- LSB 5868XC (4) 87 ss/jh 2/ 4
S.F. _____ shall be the same for each office on the ballot and for each 1 precinct in the county voting in the election. 2 Sec. 3. Section 49.31, subsection 2, paragraph b, Code 2018, 3 is amended to read as follows: 4 b. The Notwithstanding any provision of subsection 1, 5 paragraph “b” , to the contrary, the commissioner shall then 6 arrange the surnames of each political party’s candidates for 7 each office to which two or more persons are to be elected at 8 large alphabetically for the respective offices for the first 9 precinct on the list; thereafter, for each political party and 10 for each succeeding precinct, the names appearing first for 11 the respective offices in the last preceding precinct shall 12 be placed last, so that the names that were second before the 13 change shall be first after the change. The commissioner may 14 also rotate the names of candidates of a political party in the 15 reverse order of that provided in this subsection or alternate 16 the rotation so that the candidates of different parties shall 17 not be paired as they proceed through the rotation. The 18 procedure for arrangement of names on ballots provided in this 19 section shall likewise be substantially followed in elections 20 in political subdivisions of less than a county. 21 EXPLANATION 22 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 23 the explanation’s substance by the members of the general assembly. 24 This bill relates to the administration and conduct of 25 election activities. 26 Division I of the bill prohibits persons from sending 27 unsolicited political advertisements using text or multimedia 28 messages to mobile electronic devices. The bill requires any 29 person sending an unsolicited political advertisement to first 30 receive permission from the intended recipient. Any person who 31 sends unsolicited political advertisements without receiving 32 permission is liable for a civil penalty of $50 for each 33 telephone number contacted without first receiving permission, 34 up to a total of $5,000. 35 -3- LSB 5868XC (4) 87 ss/jh 3/ 4
S.F. _____ Division II of the bill relates to the arrangement of 1 election ballots for certain partisan offices. Under the bill, 2 a county commissioner of elections is required to arrange 3 the ballot so that the candidates of each political party 4 for most partisan offices appearing on the ballot appear in 5 descending order so that the candidates of the political party 6 whose registered voters voted in the greatest number in the 7 commissioner’s county at the preceding gubernatorial election 8 appear first on the ballot, and the candidates of the political 9 party whose registered voters voted in the next greatest number 10 in the commissioner’s county at such an election appear next 11 on the ballot, and continuing in descending order in the same 12 manner. 13 -4- LSB 5868XC (4) 87 ss/jh 4/ 4
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