53.11 Satellite absentee voting stations.

1. a. Not more than twenty-nine days before the date of an election, satellite absentee voting stations may be established throughout the cities and county at the direction of the commissioner and shall be established upon receipt of a petition signed by not less than one hundred eligible electors requesting that a satellite absentee voting station be established at a location to be described on the petition. However, if a special election is scheduled in the county on a date that falls between the date of the regular city election and the date of the city runoff election, the commissioner is not required to establish a satellite absentee voting station for the city runoff election.

b. A satellite absentee voting station established by petition must be open at least one day for a minimum of six hours. A satellite absentee voting station established at the direction of the commissioner or by petition may remain open until 5:00 p.m. on the day before the election.

2. A petition requesting a satellite absentee voting station must be filed by the following deadlines:

a. For a primary or general election, no later than 5:00 p.m. on the forty-seventh day before the election.

b. For the regular city election or a city primary election, no later than 5:00 p.m. on the thirtieth day before the election.

c. For a city runoff election, no later than 5:00 p.m. on the twenty-first day before the election.

d. For the regular school election, no later than 5:00 p.m. on the thirtieth day before the election.

e. For a special election, no later than thirty-two days before the special election.

3. Procedures for absentee voting at satellite absentee voting stations shall be the same as specified in section 53.10 for voting at the commissioner’s office. Additional procedures shall be prescribed by rule by the state commissioner.

4. During the hours when absentee ballots are available at a satellite absentee voting station, the satellite absentee voting station is a polling place for purposes of section 39A.4, subsection 1, paragraph “a”.

5. At least seven days before the date that absentee ballots will be available at a satellite absentee voting station, the commissioner shall notify the county chairperson of each political party of the date, time, and place that the satellite absentee voting station will be in operation in the county, so that the chairpersons may appoint observers to be present at the station during the hours absentee ballots are available. No more than two observers from each political party shall be present at any one satellite absentee voting station.

[SS15, §1137-e; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §937; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §53.11]

84 Acts, ch 1291, §13; 91 Acts, ch 129, §19; 93 Acts, ch 143, §32; 94 Acts, ch 1169, §65; 97 Acts, ch 170, §70, 71; 2002 Acts, ch 1134, §64 – 66, 115; 2005 Acts, ch 72, §2; 2007 Acts, ch 112, §1 – 3; 2008 Acts, ch 1191, §115; 2009 Acts, ch 131, §1; 2016 Acts, ch 1121, §6; 2017 Acts, ch 110, §53, 54

Referred to in §49.63, 53.7, 53.8, 53.22, 53.49, 68A.406

2017 amendment to subsection 1, paragraph a, applies to elections held on or after January 1, 2018; 2017 Acts, ch 110, §54