Iowa Administrative Code

violations of Title III in a federal election. Any person who believes that there is a violation of any provision of Title III, including a violation which has occurred, is occurring, or is about to occur, by any state or local election official may file a complaint under this ch…

to the presiding officer. 25.20(1) A written application for a continuance shall: a. Be made at the earliest possible time and no less than seven days before the hearing except in case of emergencies; b. State the specific reasons for the request; and c. Be signed by the requesti…

written notice filed with the presiding officer and served on all parties. Unless otherwise ordered by the presiding officer, a withdrawal shall be with prejudice.

25.22(1) Motion. A motion for leave to intervene in a complaint proceeding shall state the grounds for the proposed intervention, the position and interest of the proposed intervenor, and the possible impact of intervention on the proceeding. Any party may file a response within …

shall have the authority to administer oaths, to admit or exclude testimony or other evidence and to rule on all motions and objections. The presiding officer may request that an administrative law judge assist in performing any of these functions. 25.23(1) Examination of witness…

25.24(1) The presiding officer shall rule on admissibility of evidence and may, where appropriate, take official notice of facts in accordance with all applicable requirements of law. 25.24(2) Stipulation of facts is encouraged. The presiding officer may make a decision based on …

25.25(1) If a party fails to appear or participate in a complaint proceeding after proper service of notice, the presiding officer may, if no adjournment is granted, enter a default decision or proceed with the hearing and render a decision in the absence of the party. 25.25(2) D…

25.26(1) Prohibited communications. Unless required for the disposition of ex parte matters specifically authorized by statute, following issuance of the notice of hearing, there shall be no communication, directly or indirectly, between the presiding officer and any party or rep…

record or any portion of the record at cost. The cost of preparing a copy of the record or of transcribing the hearing record shall be paid by the requesting party.

25.28(1) Final decision. When the state commissioner of elections or the voter registration commission presides over the reception of evidence at the hearing, the decision is a final decision. The final decision of the presiding officer shall be filed with the state commissioner …

motion, the presiding officer may review a preliminary order of the administrative law judge, such as a ruling on a motion to quash a subpoena or other prehearing motion. In determining whether to do so, the presiding officer shall weigh the extent to which the presiding officer’…

25.3(1) Filing. The complaint shall be filed with the state commissioner of elections and shall be accompanied by adequate proof of service of the complaint, as required by subrule 25.3(2). 25.3(2) Service. Service of a complaint upon each respondent shall be made by personal ser…

25.30(1) Proposed decision. Decisions issued by an administrative law judge are proposed decisions. All complaint proceeding decisions must be issued by the state commissioner of elections or voter registration commission, as appropriate. A proposed decision issued by an administ…

25.31(1) By whom filed. Any party to a complaint proceeding may file an application for rehearing from a final order. 25.31(2) Contents of application. The application for rehearing shall state on whose behalf it is filed, the specific grounds for rehearing, and the relief sought…

25.32(1) When available. Any party to a complaint proceeding may petition the presiding officer for a stay or other temporary remedy, pending judicial review of all or part of that proceeding. The petition shall state the reasons justifying a stay or other temporary remedy. 25.32…

material fact exists, the parties may present all relevant admissible evidence either by stipulation or otherwise as agreed by the parties, without necessity for the production of evidence at an evidentiary hearing. If such agreement is reached, a jointly submitted schedule detai…

not issued within 90 days of the date of the filing of a complaint and the complainant does not agree to allow a longer period for making the determination, the complaint shall be transferred to a board of arbitration, which shall resolve the complaint within 60 days from the dat…

the terms of Iowa Code chapter 17A. 25.35(1) Consistent with Iowa Code section 17A.19(3) if a party does not file a timely application for rehearing, a judicial review petition must be filed with the district court within 30 days after the issuance of the final decision. The fina…

the presiding officer shall establish a schedule under which the complainant and respondent(s), as well as any other interested persons, may file any written submissions or documentary evidence concerning the complaint and under which a hearing on the complaint will be conducted,…

attempt to informally settle a complaint proceeding before or after a notice of the proceeding is issued. If a staff member is designated to initiate settlement discussions, the designee shall have authority to negotiate on behalf of the presiding officer, but shall not have auth…

25.6(1) Within ten days of the date of service of notice of the proceedings, each respondent shall file an answer to the allegations contained therein and serve a copy of the answer upon all parties to the proceedings, pursuant to rule 721—25.16(17A,39A,47). 25.6(2) The answer sh…

25.7(1) In complaint proceedings in which all of the respondents are local election officials, the presiding officer shall be the state commissioner of elections. 25.7(2) In complaint proceedings in which one of the respondents is the state commissioner of elections or a person o…

25.8(1) In order to expedite resolution of complaint proceedings, complaints shall be evaluated and a decision rendered based upon written submissions unless the complainant or respondent requests a hearing on the record or the presiding officer determines that an evidentiary hea…

25.9(1) Decision format. All final determinations resolving complaint proceedings shall be in writing and shall include findings of fact and conclusions of law as required by Iowa Code section 17A.16(1). 25.9(2) Violation found—remedies. If, based upon a preponderance of evidence…

“Blank ballot” means a ballot that contains no votes that can be detected by a tabulating device. See also “unvoted ballot.” “Hesitation mark” means a small mark made by resting a pen or pencil on the ballot. “Optical scan voting system” includes a tabulating device that reads ba…

Iowa.

received the most votes, may request a recount. If a person who is an apparent winner of an election requests a recount, the person who received the next highest number of votes for that office shall assume the functions of the “apparent winner” as designated in Iowa Code section…

president of the United States, and for governor and lieutenant governor, either of the two candidates may sign a request for a recount or designate a member of the recount board.

is required for each candidate who requests a recount for that office. For state and federal offices, the bond shall be filed with the state commissioner of elections. For other elections, the bond shall be filed with the commissioner responsible for the election under Iowa Code …

26.103(1) The person requesting the recount shall name one board member in the written request. If more than one person files a request for a recount of the same office in the same county, the board member shall be the designee of the first person who filed. 26.103(2) The apparen…

legal questions about the conduct of the election or the qualifications of voters. The responsibility of a recount board is to tabulate all votes for the office in question on ballots that were counted by the precinct election officials at the election. 26.104(1) Ballots to be re…

26.105(1) Ballot security. The county commissioner (or the commissioner’s designee) shall be responsible for the security of the ballots and shall supervise their handling. The commissioner shall ensure that the ballots are protected from alteration, damage or loss. 26.105(2) Opt…

However, observers may not participate in the recount. Because a recount is a purely ministerial function, rather than a policy-making one, recounts are not subject to the notification requirements of the Iowa open meetings law. (See Iowa Code section 21.2 for the definition of “…

county commissioner no later than 18 days after the board of supervisor’s canvass of the votes for the election in question or 11 days after city primary elections or the regular city election in cities with runoff election provisions.

PART VI—POST-ELECTION AUDIT

left-hand side next to each candidate’s name. The same principles demonstrated in the examples apply to other types of voting targets on optical scan ballots.

coded for use in the precinct, as required by 721—subrule 22.201(1). If a recount board appointed pursuant to Iowa Code section 50.48 finds ballots that are coded for a precinct other than the precinct being tabulated, those ballots shall not be counted unless the commissioner or…

rejected: 1. Because of any discrepancy between the printed ballot and the nomination paper, or certificate of nomination, or certified abstract of the canvassing board. 2. Because of any error in stamping or writing the endorsement thereon by the officials charged with such duti…

ballot includes an identifying mark. The following marks shall be considered to be identifying marks: 1. A comment or statement that indicates the identity of the voter either individually or as a member of a group. 2. Initials, a printed name or a signature placed on the ballot …

because a voter failed to follow instructions for marking the ballot. 26.15(1) If the choice of the voter is clear from the marks for any office or question, the vote shall be counted as the voter has indicated. 26.15(2) If for any reason it is impossible to determine the choice …

26.16(1) If a voter uses both the prescribed mark and other marks, only the prescribed marks shall be counted as votes. Example: The voter has used both the prescribed mark and a cross in the voting targets within the same office. For Board of Supervisors (Vote for no more than t…

as described in subrule 26.16(2), the marks shall be counted as votes. The following marks shall count as votes: 1. The prescribed mark as shown in the voting instructions as the correct manner of marking a vote. 2. A mark that is a close approximation of the prescribed mark but …

effective 12/31/17.

26.2(1) Optical scan—precinct count. Ballots shall be counted at the polling place on election day using the equipment provided. The precinct election officials shall not examine ballots accepted and counted by the tabulating device. After the polls close, the precinct election o…

26.20(1) The precinct election officials and recount board members shall count a write-in vote only if the voting target is marked. 26.20(2) If a voter writes the name of the same person more than once in the proper places on a ballot for an office to which more than one person i…

26.200(1) One precinct per county shall be selected by lot. 26.200(2) For the purpose of this rule, combined precincts established pursuant to Iowa Code section 49.11 shall be audited as a single precinct if selected by lot; therefore, if one precinct out of the combined precinct…

26.201(1) The state commissioner of elections shall select by lot the precincts to be included in the post-election audit the day following the election. 26.201(2) The state commissioner shall notify the state chairpersons of the two political parties whose candidates received th…

26.202(1) A post-election audit shall be completed not later than 12:00 noon three days after the county canvass of votes. 26.202(2) At least 24 hours prior to the audit start time, commissioners shall post the time and location of each audit. 26.202(3) A representative selected …

26.203(1) The commissioner shall appoint the members of the audit board not less than 24 hours prior to the time of the scheduled audit. a. Audit board members shall be registered voters of the county. b. The audit board shall ordinarily consist of three or five members. At the c…