Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 6, September 18, 2024
(1)
Security. The commissioner shall have a written security plan
for the voting system. Access to equipment, programs and passwords shall be
limited to those persons authorized in writing by the commissioner. The
security plan shall be reviewed at least annually.
a. Passwords used at the polling places on
election day shall be changed for each election.
b. The control key for the precinct automatic
tabulators shall be in the possession of the precinct chairperson on election
day.
(2)
Precinct automatic tabulator configuration choices. The
following settings are mandatory for all elections.
a.
Ballot control. In an
official election, the commissioner shall not program the precinct automatic
tabulators for unconditional acceptance of all ballots, shall not divert blank
ballots to the write-in bin, and shall always accept undervoted ballots. The
system shall be programmed to query the voter in each of the following
situations:
(1) Overvoted ballot.
(2) Blank ballot.
(3) Unreadable ballot.
b.
Unit control. The
commissioner shall not select automatic transmission of election results by
modem. The precinct officials must print the official results at the polling
place before transmitting them.
c.
Reports. The following are required reports:
(1) Opening the polls. Print the Zero
Certification report.
(2) Closing
the polls. Print the poll report before transmitting the election results by
modem. The poll report is the official record of the votes cast in the precinct
on election day. The following certification text shall appear at the end of
the poll report:
We, the undersigned precinct election officials of this
precinct, hereby attest that this tape shows the results of all ballots cast
and counted by the Optical Scan tabulation device at this election.
[print lines for each of the officials to sign]
Precinct Election Officials Date: _ Time: _
d.
Reopen polls.
The commissioner shall enable the option to reopen the polls, but protect it
against unauthorized use. If it is necessary to reopen the polls, the
chairperson of the precinct board shall contact the commissioner for the
password.
e.
Ballot
images. Rescinded IAB 7/23/14, effective 8/27/14.
(3)
Central count automatic tabulator
configuration choices. The following settings are mandatory for all
elections in which the M650 or DS850 is used.
a.
Ballot control. In an
official election, the commissioner shall program the central count automatic
tabulator to accept overvoted ballots and undervoted ballots. The commissioner
shall program the central count automatic tabulator to sort blank ballots and
unreadable ballots as required by Iowa Code section
52.37.
Ballots with write-in votes may be sorted for further review by the absentee
and special voters precinct board at the commissioner's discretion.
b.
Reports. The following
are required reports:
(1) Opening the polls.
Before ballots are tabulated in the central count automatic tabulator, a Zero
Certification report shall be printed.
(2) Closing the polls. After all ballots are
tabulated by the central count automatic tabulator, a poll report shall be
printed. The poll report is the official record of ballots tabulated in the
absentee precinct. The following certification text shall appear at the end of
the poll report:
We, the undersigned precinct election officials of this
precinct, hereby attest that this tape shows the results of all ballots cast
and counted by the Optical Scan tabulation device at this election.
[print lines for each of the officials to sign]
Precinct Election Officials Date: _ Time: _
c.
Reopen polls.
The commissioner shall enable the option to reopen the polls, but protect it
against unauthorized use.
d.
Ballot images. Rescinded IAB 7/23/14, effective 8/27/14.
(4)
Ballot
printing.
a.
Format.
The office title, instructions about the maximum number of choices the voter
can make for the office, the candidate names and all write-in lines associated
with each office on the ballot shall be printed in a single column on the same
side of the ballot. When describing the maximum number of choices the voter can
make for the office, the following description for each office shall be used:
"Vote for no more than xx." Do not include "vote for" language for public
measures or judges. All text and the "yes" and "no" choices for each public
measure and for each individual judge on a ballot shall be printed in a single
column on the same side of the ballot. No office or public measure on any
ballot shall be divided to appear in more than one column or on more than one
page of a ballot.
b.
Instructions for voters. The following instructions shall be
printed on ballots:
(1) Voting mark. "To vote,
fill in the oval next to your choice."
(2) Public measures. "Notice to voters. To
vote to approve any question on this ballot, fill in the oval in front of the
word 'Yes'. To vote against a question, fill in the oval in front of the word
'No'."
(5)
System error messages. At the discretion of the commissioner,
precinct election officials may be provided with a list of routine error
messages, including messages that relate to paper jams, which do not rise to
the level of voting equipment malfunctions and the appropriate responses. The
officials may be instructed to contact the commissioner or the commissioner's
designee on election day for all other messages or routine errors for which
appropriate responses have not been provided by the commissioner.
(6)
Record retention. The
precinct automatic tabulating equipment uses thermal printers. The maximum
anticipated life span of the results from each automatic tabulator is only five
years. In order to preserve the permanent record of the precinct results
required by Iowa Code section
50.19,
the commissioner shall print a copy of the results of each precinct on
permanent paper and store these copies with the tally lists from precincts
where the precinct automatic tabulators were used.
