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SF2081 • 2026

A bill for an act relating to the casting of provisional ballots by persons registering to vote on election day or when casting an in-person absentee ballot.

A bill for an act relating to the casting of provisional ballots by persons registering to vote on election day or when casting an in-person absentee ballot.

Elections
Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor
SALMON
Last action
2026-01-22
Official status
Subcommittee: Rozenboom, Schultz, and Winckler. S.J. 133 .
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

A bill for an act relating to the casting of provisional ballots by persons registering to vote on election day or when casting an in-person absentee ballot.

A bill for an act relating to the casting of provisional ballots by persons registering to vote on election day or when casting an in-person absentee ballot.

What This Bill Does

  • A bill for an act relating to the casting of provisional ballots by persons registering to vote on election day or when casting an in-person absentee ballot.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-01-22 Iowa Legislature

    Subcommittee: Rozenboom, Schultz, and Winckler. S.J. 133 .

  2. 2026-01-21 Iowa Legislature

    Introduced, referred to State Government. S.J. 121 .

Official Summary Text

A bill for an act relating to the casting of provisional ballots by persons registering to vote on election day or when casting an in-person absentee ballot.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text
Senate

File

2081

-

Introduced

SENATE

FILE

2081

BY

SALMON

A

BILL

FOR

An

Act

relating

to

the

casting

of

provisional

ballots

by

1

persons

registering

to

vote

on

election

day

or

when

casting

2

an

in-person

absentee

ballot.

3

BE

IT

ENACTED

BY

THE

GENERAL

ASSEMBLY

OF

THE

STATE

OF

IOWA:

4

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2081

Section

1.

Section

48A.7A,

subsection

5,

Code

2026,

is

1

amended

to

read

as

follows:

2

5.

a.

If

a

person

registers

to

vote

under

this

section

at

3

a

polling

place

that

has

access

to

an

electronic

poll

book,

4

the

precinct

election

official

shall

verify

against

a

database

5

maintained

by

the

state

commissioner

that

the

person

has

not

6

been

convicted

of

a

felony

or,

if

the

person

has

been

convicted

7

of

a

felony,

the

person

has

had

the

person’s

voting

rights

8

restored.

If

the

precinct

election

official

determines

that

9

the

person

has

not

been

convicted

of

a

felony

or

has

been

10

convicted

of

a

felony

but

the

person’s

voting

rights

have

been

11

restored,

the

precinct

election

official

shall

furnish

a

ballot

12

to

the

voter.

If

the

database

indicates

that

the

person

has

13

been

convicted

of

a

felony

and

that

the

person’s

voting

rights

14

have

not

been

restored,

the

precinct

election

official

shall

15

challenge

the

person

under

section

49.79

.

16

b.

If

a

A

person

who

registers

to

vote

under

this

section

17

at

a

polling

place

that

does

not

have

access

to

an

electronic

18

poll

book,

the

person

shall

be

permitted

to

cast

a

provisional

19

ballot

under

section

49.81

,

and

the

absentee

and

special

voters

20

precinct

board,

appointed

pursuant

to

section

53.23

,

shall

21

verify

against

a

database

maintained

by

the

state

commissioner

22

that

the

person

has

not

been

convicted

of

a

felony

or,

if

the

23

person

has

been

convicted

of

a

felony,

the

person’s

voting

24

rights

have

been

restored.

If

information

in

the

database

25

indicates

that

the

person

has

not

been

convicted

of

a

felony

26

or,

if

the

person

has

been

convicted

of

a

felony,

the

person’s

27

voting

rights

have

been

restored,

the

voter’s

provisional

28

ballot

shall

be

counted.

If

the

database

indicates

that

the

29

person

has

been

convicted

of

a

felony

and

the

person’s

voting

30

rights

have

not

been

restored,

the

voter’s

provisional

ballot

31

shall

be

rejected.

32

Sec.

2.

Section

48A.14,

subsection

4,

Code

2026,

is

amended

33

to

read

as

follows:

34

4.

A

challenge

may

be

filed

at

any

time.

A

challenge

filed

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2081

less

than

seventy

days

before

a

regularly

scheduled

election

1

shall

not

be

processed

until

after

the

pending

election

unless

2

the

challenge

is

filed

within

twenty

days

of

the

commissioner’s

3

receipt

of

the

challenged

registrant’s

registration

form

or

4

notice

of

change

to

an

existing

registration.

A

challenge

5

filed

against

a

person

registering

to

vote

pursuant

to

section

6

48A.7A

is

considered

a

challenge

to

a

person

offering

to

vote

7

and

must

be

filed

under

section

49.79

.

8

Sec.

3.

Section

49.77,

subsection

3,

paragraph

b,

Code

2026,

9

is

amended

to

read

as

follows:

10

b.

If

the

voter

informs

the

precinct

election

official

that

11

the

voter

resides

in

the

precinct

and

is

not

registered

to

12

vote,

the

voter

may

register

to

vote

pursuant

to

section

48A.7A

13

and

cast

a

ballot.

If

such

a

voter

is

unable

to

establish

14

identity

and

residency

in

the

manner

provided

in

section

15

48A.7A,

subsection

1

,

paragraph

“b”

or

“c”

,

the

voter

shall

be

16

allowed

to

cast

a

ballot

in

the

manner

prescribed

by

section

17

49.81

.

18

EXPLANATION

19

The

inclusion

of

this

explanation

does

not

constitute

agreement

with

20

the

explanation’s

substance

by

the

members

of

the

general

assembly.

21

This

bill

requires

a

person

registering

to

vote

on

election

22

day

or

when

casting

an

in-person

absentee

ballot

to

cast

a

23

provisional

ballot.

The

absentee

and

special

voters

precinct

24

board

shall

then

count

the

provisional

ballot

only

if

the

board

25

determines

that

the

voter

was

eligible

to

vote.

Under

current

26

law,

a

person

registering

to

vote

on

election

day

or

when

27

casting

an

in-person

absentee

ballot

may

cast

a

regular

ballot

28

if

the

polling

place

can

verify

the

voter’s

eligibility

to

vote

29

using

an

electronic

poll

book.

30

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