2009 Iowa Code
Title 2 - Elections and Official Duties
Subtitle 1 - Elections
CHAPTER 49 - METHOD OF CONDUCTING ELECTIONS
49.11 - NOTICE OF BOUNDARIES OF PRECINCTS -- MERGER OR DIVISION.

        49.11  NOTICE OF BOUNDARIES OF PRECINCTS -- MERGER OR
      DIVISION.
         1.  The board of supervisors or the temporary county redistricting
      commission or city council shall number or name the precincts
      established by the supervisors or council pursuant to sections 49.3,
      49.4, and 49.5.  The boundaries of the precincts shall be recorded in
      the records of the board of supervisors, temporary county
      redistricting commission, or city council, as the case may be.
         2.  The board of supervisors or city council shall publish notice
      of changes in the county or city precinct boundaries in a newspaper
      of general circulation published in the county or city once each week
      for three consecutive weeks.  The series of publications shall be
      made after the changes in the precincts have been approved by the
      state commissioner of elections.  The last of the three publications
      shall be made no later than thirty days before the next general
      election.  A map showing the new boundaries may be used.  No
      publication is necessary if no changes were made.
         3.  The precincts established pursuant to section 49.7 shall not
      be changed except in the manner provided by law.  However, for any
      election other than the primary or general election or any special
      election held under section 69.14, the county commissioner of
      elections may:
         a.  Consolidate two or more precincts into one.
         (1)  However, the commissioner shall not do so if there is filed
      with the commissioner at least twenty days before the election a
      petition signed by twenty-five or more eligible electors of any
      precinct requesting that it not be merged with any other precinct.
      There shall be attached to the petition the affidavit of an eligible
      elector of the precinct that the signatures on the petition are
      genuine and that all of the signers are to the best of the affiant's
      knowledge and belief eligible electors of the precinct.
         (2)  If a special election is to be held in which only those
      registered voters residing in a specified portion of any established
      precinct are entitled to vote, that portion of the precinct may be
      merged by the commissioner with one or more other established
      precincts or portions of established precincts for the special
      election, and the right to petition against merger of a precinct
      shall not apply.
         b. (1)  Establish voting centers for the regular city
      election, city primary election, city runoff election, regular school
      election, and special elections.  Any registered voter who is
      eligible to vote in the regular city election may vote at any voting
      center in the city.  Any registered voter who is eligible to vote at
      the regular school election may vote at any voting center in the
      school district.  Any registered voter who is eligible to vote in a
      special election may vote at any voting center established for that
      special election.  For purposes of section 48A.7A, a voting center
      shall be considered the polling place for the precinct in which a
      person resides.
         (2)  The county commissioner of elections shall designate the
      location of each voting center to be used in the election.
         (3)  A voting center designated under this subsection is subject
      to the requirements of section 49.21 relating to accessibility to
      persons who are elderly and persons with disabilities and relating to
      the posting of signs.  The location of each voting center shall be
      published by the county commissioner of elections in the same manner
      as the location of polling places is required to be published.
         (4)  Pursuant to section 39A.2, subsection 1, paragraph "b",
      subparagraph (3), a person commits the crime of election misconduct
      in the first degree if the person knowingly votes or attempts to vote
      at more than one voting center for the same election.
         c.  Divide any precinct permanently established under this
      section which contains all or any parts of two or more mutually
      exclusive political subdivisions, either or both of which is
      independently electing one or more officers or voting on one or more
      questions on the same date, into two or more temporary precincts and
      designate a polling place for each.
         d.  Notwithstanding subsection 1, the commissioner may
      consolidate precincts for any election including a primary and
      general election under any of the following circumstances:
         (1)  One of the precincts involved consists entirely of
      dormitories that are closed at the time the election is held.
         (2)  The consolidated precincts, if established as a permanent
      precinct, would meet all requirements of section 49.3, and a combined
      total of no more than three hundred fifty voters voted in the
      consolidated precincts at the last preceding similar election.
         (3)  The city council of a special charter city with a population
      of three thousand five hundred or less which is divided into council
      wards requests the commissioner to consolidate two or more precincts
      for any election.  

         Section History: Early Form

         [C73, § 604; C97, § 1092, 2755; S13, § 2755; C24, § 729, 4205;
      C27, § 729, 4205, 4216-b2; C31, 35, § 729, 4216-c5; C39, § 729,
      4216.05; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, § 49.11, 277.5; C75, 77,
      79, 81, § 49.11; 81 Acts, ch 34, § 24] 

         Section History: Recent Form

         93 Acts, ch 143, § 16; 94 Acts, ch 1169, §64; 94 Acts, ch 1179,
      §13; 94 Acts, ch 1180, §12; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, § 149; 2008 Acts, ch
      1115, § 23
         Referred to in § 49.9, 49.10, 49.13, 49.16, 331.383