House File 160 - Introduced HOUSE FILE 160 BY GOLDING A BILL FOR An Act relating to the casting of provisional ballots by 1 persons registering to vote on election day or when casting 2 an in-person absentee ballot. 3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 4 TLSB 1666HH (1) 91 ss/ns
H.F. 160 Section 1. Section 48A.7A, subsection 5, Code 2025, is 1 amended to read as follows: 2 5. a. If a person registers to vote under this section at 3 a polling place that has access to an electronic poll book, 4 the precinct election official shall verify against a database 5 maintained by the state commissioner that the person has not 6 been convicted of a felony or, if the person has been convicted 7 of a felony, the person has had the persons voting rights 8 restored. If the precinct election official determines that 9 the person has not been convicted of a felony or has been 10 convicted of a felony but the persons voting rights have been 11 restored, the precinct election official shall furnish a ballot 12 to the voter. If the database indicates that the person has 13 been convicted of a felony and that the persons voting rights 14 have not been restored, the precinct election official shall 15 challenge the person under section 49.79 . 16 b. If a A person who registers to vote under this section 17 at a polling place that does not have access to an electronic 18 poll book, the person shall be permitted to cast a provisional 19 ballot under section 49.81 , and the absentee and special voters 20 precinct board, appointed pursuant to section 53.23 , shall 21 verify against a database maintained by the state commissioner 22 that the person has not been convicted of a felony or, if the 23 person has been convicted of a felony, the persons voting 24 rights have been restored. If information in the database 25 indicates that the person has not been convicted of a felony 26 or, if the person has been convicted of a felony, the persons 27 voting rights have been restored, the voters provisional 28 ballot shall be counted. If the database indicates that the 29 person has been convicted of a felony and the persons voting 30 rights have not been restored, the voters provisional ballot 31 shall be rejected. 32 EXPLANATION 33 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 34 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 35 -1- LSB 1666HH (1) 91 ss/ns 1/ 2
H.F. 160 This bill requires a person registering to vote on election 1 day or when casting an in-person absentee ballot to cast a 2 provisional ballot. The absentee and special voters precinct 3 board shall then count the provisional ballot only if the board 4 determines that the voter was eligible to vote. Under current 5 law, a person registering to vote on election day or when 6 casting an in-person absentee ballot may cast a regular ballot 7 if the polling place can verify the voters eligibility to vote 8 using an electronic poll book. 9 -2- LSB 1666HH (1) 91 ss/ns 2/ 2