Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 721 - Secretary of State › Division II - Elections › Chapter 21 - Election Forms and Instructions › Rule 721-21.1 - Emergency Election Procedures

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
The state commissioner of elections may exercise emergency
				  powers over any election being held in a district in which either a natural or
				  other disaster or extremely inclement weather has occurred. The state
				  commissioner may also exercise emergency powers during an armed conflict
				  involving United States armed forces, or mobilization of those forces, or if an
				  election contest court finds that there were errors in the conduct of an
				  election making it impossible to determine the result.
(1)
Definitions.
"Commissioner"
means the county commissioner
				  of elections.
"Election contest court"
means any of the
				  courts specified in Iowa Code sections
				  57.1,
				  58.4,
				  61.1,
				  62.1 and
				  376.10.
"Extremely inclement weather"
means a
				  natural occurrence, such as a rainstorm, windstorm, ice storm, blizzard,
				  tornado or other weather conditions, which makes travel extremely dangerous or
				  which threatens the public peace, health and safety of the people or which
				  damages and destroys public and private property.
"Natural disaster "
means a natural
				  occurrence, such as a fire, flood, blizzard, earthquake, tornado, windstorm,
				  ice storm, or other events, which threatens the public peace, health and safety
				  of the people or which damages and destroys public and private property.
"Other disaster"
means an occurrence caused
				  by machines or people, such as fire, hazardous substance or nuclear power plant
				  accident or incident, which threatens the public peace, health and safety of
				  the people or which damages and destroys public and private property.
"State commissioner"
means the state
				  commissioner of elections.
(2)
Notice of natural or other
				disaster or extremely inclement weather.
The county commissioner of
				elections, or the commissioner's designee, may notify the state commissioner of
				elections that due to a natural or other disaster or extremely inclement
				weather an election cannot safely be conducted in the time or place for which
				the election is scheduled to be held. If the commissioner or the commissioner's
				designee is unable to transmit notice of the hazardous conditions, the notice
				may be given by any elected county official. Verification of the commissioner's
				agreement with the severity of the conditions and the danger to the election
				process shall be transmitted to the state commissioner as soon as possible.
				Notice may be given by telephone or by facsimile machine, but a signed notice
				shall also be delivered to the state commissioner.
(3)
Declaration of emergency due to
				natural or other disaster or extremely inclement weather.
After
				receiving notice of hazardous conditions, the state commissioner of elections,
				or the state commissioner's designee, may declare that an emergency exists in
				the affected precinct or precincts. A copy of the declaration of the emergency
				shall be provided to the commissioner.
(4)
Emergency modifications to
				conduct of elections.
When the state commissioner of elections has
				declared that an emergency exists due to a natural or other disaster or to
				extremely inclement weather, the county commissioner of elections, or the
				commissioner's designee, shall consult with the state commissioner to develop a
				plan to conduct the election under the emergency conditions. All modifications
				to the usual method for conducting elections shall be approved in advance by
				the state commissioner unless prior approval is impossible to obtain.
Modifications may be made to the method for conducting the
				  election including relocation of the polling place, postponement of the hour of
				  opening the polls, postponement of the date of the election if no candidates
				  for federal offices are on the ballot, reduction in the number of precinct
				  election officials in nonpartisan elections, or other reasonable and prudent
				  modifications that will permit the election to be conducted.
(5)
Relocation of polling
				place.
The substitute polling place shall be as close as possible to
				the usual polling place and shall be within the same precinct if possible.
				Preference shall be given to buildings which are accessible to the elderly and
				disabled. Buildings supported by taxation shall be made available without
				charge by the authorities responsible for their administration. If it is
				necessary, more than one precinct may be located in the same room.
A notice of the location of the substitute polling place
				  shall be posted on the door of the former polling place not later than one hour
				  before the scheduled time for opening the polls or as soon as possible. If it
				  is unsafe or impossible to post the sign on the door of the former polling
				  place, the notice shall be posted in some other visible place at or near the
				  site of the former polling place. If time permits, notice of the relocation of
				  the polling place shall be published in the same newspaper in which notice of
				  election was published, otherwise notice of relocation may be published in any
				  newspaper of general circulation in the political subdivision which will appear
				  on or before election day. The commissioner shall inform all broadcast media
				  and print news organizations serving the jurisdiction of the
				  modifications.
(6)
Postponement of election.
An election, other than an election
				at which a federal office appears on the ballot, may be postponed until the
				following Tuesday. If the election involves more than one precinct, the
				postponement must include all precincts within the political subdivision. If
				the election is postponed, ballots shall not be reprinted to reflect the
				modification in the election date. The date of the close of voter
				preregistration by mail for the election shall not be extended. Precinct
				election registers prepared for the original election date may be used or
				reprinted at the commissioner's discretion.
On the day that the postponed election is actually held, all
				  election day procedures must be repeated.
(7)
Absentee voting in postponed
				elections.
Absentee ballots shall be delivered to voters pursuant to
				Iowa Code section
				53.22
				until the date the election is actually held. Absentee ballots shall be
				accepted at the commissioner's office until the hour the polls close on the
				date the election is held. Absentee ballots which are postmarked or which bear
				an Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) traceable to a date of entry into the federal
				mail system no later than the day before the election is actually held shall be
				accepted if received no later than the time prescribed by the Iowa Code for the
				usual conduct of the election. The time shall be calculated from the date on
				which the election is held, not the date for which the election was originally
				scheduled. However, if absentee ballots have been tabulated before the election
				is postponed, the absentee ballots shall be sealed in an envelope by the
				absentee and special voters precinct board and stored securely until the date
				the election is actually held. The sealed envelopes shall be opened by the
				absentee and special voters precinct board on the date the election is actually
				held, counters on the tabulating equipment (if any) shall be reset to zero, and
				all absentee ballots tabulated on the original election date shall be
				retabulated.
(8)
Absentee
				and special voters precinct board in postponed elections.
The absentee
				and special voters precinct board shall meet to consider provisional ballots at
				the times specified in Iowa Code sections
				50.22
				and
				52.23,
				calculated from the date the election is held. No absentee ballots shall be
				counted until the date the election is held.
(9)
Canvass of votes in postponed
				elections.
The canvass of votes shall also be rescheduled for one week
				after the originally scheduled canvass date.
(10)
Postponements made on election
				day.
If the emergency is declared while the polls are open and the
				decision is made to postpone the election, each precinct polling place in the
				political subdivision shall be notified to close its doors and to halt all
				voting immediately. People present in the polling place who are waiting to vote
				shall not be given ballots. People who have received and marked their ballots
				shall deposit them in the ballot box; unmarked ballots may be returned to the
				precinct election officials.
The precinct election officials shall seal all ballots which
				  were cast before the declaration of the emergency in secure containers. The
				  containers shall be clearly marked as ballots from the postponed election. If
				  it is safe to do so, the ballot containers, election register, and other
				  election supplies shall be transported to the commissioner's office. The
				  ballots shall be stored in a secure place. If it is unsafe to travel to the
				  commissioner's office, the chairperson of the precinct election board shall see
				  that the ballots and the election register are securely stored until it is safe
				  to return them to the commissioner. If no contest is pending six months after
				  the canvass for the election is completed, the unopened, sealed ballot
				  containers shall be destroyed.
If automatic tabulating equipment is used, the automatic
				  tabulating equipment shall be closed and sealed without printing the results.
				  Before the date the election is held, the automatic tabulating equipment shall
				  be reset to zero. Documents showing the progress of the count, if any, shall be
				  sealed in an envelope and stored. No one shall reveal the progress of the
				  count. After six months, the sealed envelope containing the vote totals shall
				  be destroyed if no contest is pending.
(11)
Records kept.
The state
				commissioner of elections shall maintain records of each emergency declaration.
				The records of emergency declarations for federal elections shall be kept for
				22 months, and records for all other elections shall be kept for six months
				following the election. The records shall include the following information:
a. The county in which the emergency
				occurred.
b. The date and time the
				emergency declaration was requested.
c. The name and title of the person making
				the request.
d. Name and date of
				the election affected.
e. The
				jurisdiction for which the election is to be conducted (school, city, county,
				or other).
f. The number of
				precincts in the jurisdiction.
g.
				The number of precincts affected by the emergency.
h. The nature of the emergency, i.e., natural
				or other disaster, or extremely inclement weather.
i. The date or dates of the occurrence of the
				natural or other disaster or extremely inclement weather.
j. Conditions affecting the conduct of the
				election.
k. Whether the polling
				places may safely be opened on time.
l. Action taken: such as moving the polling
				place, change voting system, postpone election until the following
				Tuesday.
m. Method to be used to
				inform the public of changes made in the election procedure.
n. The signature of the state commissioner or
				the state commissioner's designee who was responsible for declaring the
				emergency.