Iowa Code § 54.5 — IA Code / Title II / Chapter 54 / Section 54.5
Presidential nominees.
Status: in_force

(1) (a) The names of the candidates for president and vice president of a political party as defined in the law relating to primary elections, shall, by 5:00 p.m. on the eighty-first day before the election, be certified to the state commissioner by the chairperson and secretary of the state central committee of the party.

(1) (b) However, if the national nominating convention of a political party adjourns later than eighty-nine days before the general election the certificate showing the names of that party’s candidates for president and vice president shall be filed within five days after adjournment.

(1) (c) As an alternative to the certificate by the state central committee, the certificate of nomination issued by the political party’s national nominating convention may be used to certify the names of the party’s candidates for president and vice president. If certificates of nomination are received from both the state central committee and the national nominating convention of a political party, and there are differences between the two certificates, the certificate filed by the state central committee shall prevail.

(2) The state central committee shall also file a list of the names and addresses of the party’s presidential electors and alternate electors, one from each congressional district and two from the state at large, not later than 5:00 p.m. on the eighty-first day before the general election. A political party may elect up to two alternate electors at the party’s state convention. Additionally, the party’s state central committee may nominate one alternate elector for each congressional district.

(3) Each elector nominee and alternate elector nominee of a political party or group of petitioners shall execute the following pledge on a form prescribed by the state commissioner, which shall accompany the submission of the corresponding names to the state commissioner:If selected for the position of elector, I agree to serve and to mark my ballots for president and vice president for the nominees for those offices of the party (or group of petitioners) that nominated me.

(4) If a candidate for the office of president or vice president of the United States withdraws, dies, or is otherwise removed from the ballot before the general election, another candidate may be substituted. The substitution shall be made by the state central committee of the political party or by the governing committee of the national party. If there are differences, the substitution made by the state central committee shall prevail. A nonparty political organization which has filed the names of party officers and central committee members with the secretary of state before the close of the filing period for the general election pursuant to section 44.17 may also make substitutions. A substitution must be filed no later than seventy-four days before the election.

(5) An objection to a nomination made under this section on any grounds other than the legal sufficiency of the certificate of nomination shall not be sustained. The certificate of nomination shall be presumed valid.

[C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §967; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §54.5; 81 Acts, ch 34, §38]89 Acts, ch 136, §58; 97 Acts, ch 170, §74; 2015 Acts, ch 29, §9; 2020 Acts, ch 1098, §5, 6; 2025 Acts, ch 123, §17, 18