TrustVoting Atlas

53.2 Application for ballot.
1. a. Any registered voter, under the circumstances specified in section 53.1, may on any
day, except election day, and not more than seventy days prior to the date of the election, apply
in person for an absentee ballot at the commissioner’s office or at any location designated by
the commissioner. However, for those elections in which the commissioner directs the polls
be opened at noon pursuant to section 49.73, a voter may apply in person for an absentee
ballot at the commissioner’s office from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. on election day.
b. A registered voter may make written application to the commissioner for an absentee
ballot. A written application for an absentee ballot must be received by the commissioner
no later than 5:00 p.m. on the same day as the voter registration deadline provided in
section 48A.9 for the election for which the ballot is requested, except when the absentee
ballot is requested and voted at the commissioner’s office pursuant to section 53.10. A
written application for an absentee ballot delivered to the commissioner and received by the
commissioner more than seventy days prior to the date of the election shall be returned to
the voter with a notification of the date when the applications will be accepted.
c. The commissioner may send an absentee ballot application to a registered voter at
the request of the registered voter. The commissioner shall not send an absentee ballot
application to a person who has not submitted such a request.
d. In the event of a public health disaster declared by the governor pursuant to section
29C.6, the general assembly may by resolution direct the state commissioner to send an
absentee ballot application to each registered voter prior to a primary or general election held
in an even-numbered year. If the general assembly is not in session, the legislative council
may so direct the state commissioner by a majority vote.
2. a. The state commissioner shall prescribe a form for absentee ballot applications.
However, if a registered voter submits an application on a sheet of paper no smaller than
three by five inches in size that includes all of the information required in this section, the
prescribed form is not required.
b. Absentee ballot applications may include instructions to send the application directly
to the county commissioner of elections. However, no absentee ballot application shall be
preaddressed or printed with instructions to send the applications to anyone other than the
appropriate commissioner.
c. No absentee ballot application shall be preaddressed or printed with instructions to
send the ballot to anyone other than the voter.
d. No absentee ballot application shall be provided to a registered voter with any field
prefilled, except that the absentee ballot application may have the fields for the type and date
of the election prefilled.
3. This section does not require that a written communication mailed to the
commissioner’s office to request an absentee ballot, or any other document be notarized as
a prerequisite to receiving or marking an absentee ballot or returning to the commissioner
an absentee ballot which has been voted.
4. a. To request an absentee ballot, a registered voter shall provide:
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ABSENT VOTERS, §53.2
(1) The name and signature of the registered voter and the date on which the request was
signed.
(2) The registered voter’s date of birth.
(3) The address at which the voter is registered to vote.
(4) The registered voter’s voter verification number.
(5) The name or date of the election for which the absentee ballot is requested.
(6) Such other information as may be necessary to determine the correct absentee ballot
for the registered voter.
b. If insufficient information has been provided, including the absence of a voter
verification number, either on the prescribed form or on an application created by the
applicant, the commissioner shall, within twenty-four hours after the receipt of the absentee
ballot request, contact the applicant by telephone and electronic mail, if such information
has been provided by the applicant. If the commissioner is unable to contact the applicant
by telephone or electronic mail, the commissioner shall send a notice to the applicant at the
address where the applicant is registered to vote, or to the applicant’s mailing address if it is
different from the residential address. If the applicant has requested the ballot to be sent to
an address that is not the applicant’s residential or mailing address, the commissioner shall
send an additional notice to the address where the applicant requested the ballot to be sent.
A commissioner shall not use the voter registration system to obtain additional necessary
information. A voter requesting or casting a ballot pursuant to section 53.22 shall not be
required to provide a voter verification number.
c. For purposes of this subsection, “voter verification number” means the registered
voter’s driver’s license number or nonoperator’s identification card number assigned to
the voter by the department of transportation or the registered voter’s four-digit personal
identification number assigned to the voter by the state commissioner pursuant to section
48A.10A, subsection 1.
d. If an applicant does not have current access to the applicant’s voter verification
number, the commissioner shall verify the applicant’s identity prior to supplying the voter
verification number by asking the applicant to provide at least two of the following facts
about the applicant:
(1) Date of birth.
(2) The last four digits of the applicant’s social security number, if applicable.
(3) Residential address.
(4) Mailing address.
(5) Middle name.
(6) Voter verification number as defined in paragraph “c”.
5. The commissioner may dispute an application if it appears to the commissioner that
the signature on the application has been signed by someone other than the registered voter,
in comparing the signature on the application to the signature on record of the registered
voter named on the application. If the commissioner disputes a registered voter’s application
under this subsection, the commissioner shall notify the registered voter and the registered
voter may submit a new application and signature or update the registered voter’s signature
on record, as provided by rule adopted by the state commissioner.
6. An application for a primary election ballot which specifies a party different from that
recorded on the registered voter’s voter registration record, or if the voter’s voter registration
record does not indicate a party affiliation, shall be accepted as a change or declaration of
party affiliation. The commissioner shall approve the change or declaration and enter a
notation of the change on the registration records at the time the absentee ballot request
is noted on the voter’s registration record. A notice shall be sent with the ballot requested
informing the voter that the voter’s registration record will be changed to show that the voter
is now affiliated with the party whose ballot the voter requested. If an application for a
primary election ballot does not specify a party and the voter registration record of the voter
from whom the application is received shows that the voter is affiliated with a party, the voter
shall be mailed the ballot of the party indicated on the voter’s registration record.
7. If an application for an absentee ballot is received from an eligible elector who is
not a registered voter the commissioner shall send the eligible elector a voter registration
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§53.2, ABSENT VOTERS
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form and another absentee ballot application form. If the application is received after the
time registration closes pursuant to section 48A.9 but by 5:00 p.m. on the Saturday before
the election for general elections or by 5:00 p.m. on the Friday before the election for all
other elections, the commissioner shall notify the applicant by mail of the election day and
in-person absentee registration provisions of section 48A.7A. In addition to notification
by mail, the commissioner shall also attempt to contact the applicant by any other method
available to the commissioner.
8. A registered voter who has not moved from the county in which the elector is registered
to vote may submit a change of name, telephone number, or address on the absentee ballot
application form when requesting an absentee ballot. The commissioner may also update
a voter’s identification number, as described in section 48A.11, subsection 1, paragraph “e”,
if an identification number is provided on an absentee ballot application. Upon receipt of
a properly completed form, the commissioner shall enter a notation of the change on the
registration records.
9. An application for an absentee ballot that is returned to the commissioner by a
person acting as an actual or implied agent for a political party, as defined in section
43.2, or by a candidate or committee, both as defined by chapter 68A, shall be returned
to the commissioner within seventy-two hours of the time the completed application was
received from the applicant or no later than 5:00 p.m. on the same day as the deadline under
subsection 1, paragraph “b”, whichever is earlier. An application received by a person acting
as an actual or implied agent of a political party after the deadline but before the date of the
election shall be returned to the commissioner within twenty-four hours.
10. A registered voter who is a program participant under section 9E.6 may register to
vote as an absentee voter with the state commissioner of elections pursuant to section 9E.6,
subsection 2.
11. If an application for an absentee ballot is received between 5:00 p.m. on the fifteenth
day before an election and 5:00 p.m. on the seventh day before an election, the commissioner
shall notify the registered voter within twenty-four hours that the absentee ballot request
cannot be processed and notify the registered voter of ways the registered voter may
participate in the election. A notification sent pursuant to this subsection shall be transmitted
in the same manner as a notification transmitted pursuant to subsection 4, paragraph “b”.
[SS15, §1137-c, -d; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §928, 930; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, §53.2, 53.4;
Acts, ch 129, §17; 94 Acts, ch 1169, §54; 95 Acts, ch 189, §15; 97 Acts, ch 170, §68; 2004 Acts,
ch 1083, §28, 29, 37; 2007 Acts, ch 59, §23, 38; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, §157; 2008 Acts, ch 1053,
§1, 2; 2009 Acts, ch 57, §61; 2010 Acts, ch 1033, §29, 56; 2014 Acts, ch 1101, §15, 32; 2015 Acts,
ch 96, §10, 17; 2017 Acts, ch 110, §6, 11, 30, 35, 36; 2017 Acts, ch 170, §26; 2020 Acts, ch 1121,
§123 – 125; 2021 Acts, ch 12, §43 – 45, 73; 2021 Acts, ch 147, §39, 54; 2025 Acts, ch 123, §14
Subsection 4, paragraph c amended