Iowa Code § 47.7

Current through March 29, 2024

Section 47.7 - State registrar of voters

1. The state commissioner of elections is designated the state registrar of voters, and shall regulate the preparation, preservation, and maintenance of voter registration records, the preparation of precinct election registers for all elections administered by the commissioner of any county, and the preparation of other data on voter registration and participation in elections which is requested and purchased at actual cost of preparation and production by a political party or any resident of this state. The registrar shall maintain a log, which is a public record, showing all lists and reports which have been requested or generated or which are capable of being generated by existing programs of the data processing services of the registrar. In the execution of the duties provided by this chapter, the state registrar of voters shall provide the maximum public access to the electoral process permitted by law.

a. On or before January 1, 2006, the state registrar of voters shall implement in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner, a single, uniform, official, centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter registration file defined, maintained, and administered at the state level that contains the name and registration information of every legally registered voter in the state and assigns a unique identifier to each legally registered voter in the state. The state voter registration system shall be coordinated with other agency databases within the state, including, but not limited to, state department of transportation driver's license records, judicial records of convicted felons and persons declared incompetent to vote, and department of health and human services records of deceased persons.

b. On or after January 1, 2007, a county shall not establish or maintain a voter registration system separate from the state voter registration system. Each county shall provide to the state registrar the names, voter registration information, and voting history of each registered voter in the county in the form required by the state registrar.

c. A state or local election official may obtain immediate electronic access to the information contained in the computerized voter registration file. All voter registration information obtained by a local election official shall be electronically entered into the computerized voter registration file on an expedited basis at the time the information is provided to the local election official. The state registrar shall provide such support as may be required to enable local election officials to electronically enter the information into the computerized voter registration file on an expedited basis. The list generated from the computerized file shall serve as the official voter registration list for the conduct of all elections for federal office in the state.

d. The state registrar shall prescribe by rule the procedures for access to the state voter registration file, including all of the following:

(1) Access protocols for adding, changing, or deleting information from the state voter registration file.

(2) Training requirements for all state voter registration file users.

(3) Technology safeguards, including county information technology network requirements, necessary to access the state voter registration file.

(4) Breach incident response requirements and protocols on all matters related to elections.

e. The state registrar may rescind access to the statewide voter registration file from a user who is not in compliance with the prescribed rules.

(1) The state registrar shall, in the first quarter of each calendar year, conduct a verification of all voters in the statewide voter registration file, which shall include cross-referencing the records in the statewide voter registration file with similar records maintained by other states. The state registrar of voters shall cancel the registration of a voter found to be ineligible pursuant to section 48A.30. The state registrar shall submit a report to the general assembly by April 30 of each year regarding the number of voter registrations canceled pursuant to this paragraph. The state registrar shall also publish this report on the internet site of the state registrar.

(2) The state registrar may contract with a third-party vendor to develop or provide a program to allow the state registrar to verify the status of records in the statewide voter registration file and identify ineligible voters on an ongoing basis.

Iowa Code § 47.7

83 Acts, ch 176, §1, 10; 86 Acts, ch 1245, §313; 94 Acts, ch 1169, §47; 98 Acts, ch 1217, §34; 2004 Acts, ch 1083, §4, 37; 2006 Acts, ch 1003, § 1, 2; 2019 Acts, ch 148, § 22, 23, 33; 2021 Acts, ch 12, § 20, 21, 73; 2023 Acts, ch 19, § 38; 2023 Acts, ch 165, §4

Amended by 2023 Iowa, ch 165, s 4, eff. 7/1/2023.

Amended by 2023 Iowa, ch 19, s 38, eff. 7/1/2023.

Amended by 2021 Iowa, ch 12, s 21, eff. 3/8/2021.

Amended by 2021 Iowa, ch 12, s 20, eff. 3/8/2021.

Amended by 2019 Iowa, ch 148, s 23, eff. 5/16/2019.

Amended by 2019 Iowa, ch 148, s 22, eff. 5/16/2019.

C77, 79, 81, §47.7; 81 Acts, ch 34, §1083 Acts, ch 176, §1, 10; 86 Acts, ch 1245, §313; 94 Acts, ch 1169, §47; 98 Acts, ch 1217, §34; 2004 Acts, ch 1083, §4, 37; 2006 Acts, ch 1003, §1, 2

Referred to in §39.3, 48A.10A, 53.2, 53.10

Subsection 2, paragraph a amended

Subsection 3 stricken