Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 721 - Secretary of State › Division II - Elections › Chapter 28 - Voter Registration File (I-VOTERS) Management › Rule 721-28.4 - Cancellations and Restorations of Voter Registration Due to Felony Conviction

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
(1) Based upon information provided to the
				state registrar by the state or federal judicial branch and by the governor,
				the state registrar shall maintain a list of felons convicted in State of Iowa
				District Courts and the United States District Courts of the Northern and
				Southern Districts of Iowa and a list of convicted felons whose voting rights
				have been restored by the governor of Iowa. Periodically, these lists shall be
				matched with I-Voters. Based upon predetermined search criteria, a list of
				likely matches of ineligible voters shall be produced for each county and
				provided to each county registrar.
(2) The state registrar has a demonstrated
				institutional need for documentation that sufficiently establishes an
				individual defendant's felony conviction. Therefore, the state registrar shall
				collaborate with the judicial branch to obtain documentation about felony
				convictions in a timely, efficient fashion, which shall include documentation
				sufficient to establish an individual defendant's felony conviction. When the
				state registrar receives felony conviction information from the United States
				attorney pursuant to Iowa Code section 48A.30(1)
"d,"
the
				state registrar shall request documentation sufficient to establish conviction
				of an offense classified as a felony under federal law. The state registrar
				shall verify any conviction information provided pursuant to Iowa Code section
				48A.30(1)
"d"
prior to adding an individual to the list of
				convicted felons maintained pursuant to subrule 28.4(1).
(3) Within 30 days of the receipt of the list
				produced by the state registrar in accordance with subrule 28.4(1), the county
				registrar shall review the list of likely matches, determine the accuracy of
				the search results based on first name, last name, date of birth and social
				security number and cancel the registrations of those voters found to be
				ineligible to vote. The county registrar may also utilize sex, Iowa driver's
				license or nonoperator's identification numbers, and previous names, if
				available, to determine the accuracy of the search results. If the county
				registrar has questions regarding a felony conviction, the county registrar
				shall contact the court of conviction's clerk of court. Notice shall be sent to
				the voter at the voter's address in the voter registration file pursuant to
				Iowa Code section 48A.30(2). The notice shall be sent by forwardable mail and
				shall provide the voter an opportunity to have the county registrar review any
				relevant information that establishes the voter's eligibility to vote. When
				inclusion of a voter's name on the list of likely matches is found to be
				inaccurate, the registrar shall mark the record as a "no match" and provide
				that information to the state registrar.
(4) New applicants for registration entered
				into I-Voters by a county registrar shall be electronically matched against the
				list of convicted felons in the file, and applicants disqualified due to felony
				conviction shall not be registered as voters. The county registrar shall notify
				the registration applicant of the applicant's disqualification in the same
				manner as provided for in subrule 28.4(2) above.