2009 Iowa Code
Title 2 - Elections and Official Duties
Subtitle 1 - Elections
CHAPTER 49 - METHOD OF CONDUCTING ELECTIONS
49.31 - ARRANGEMENT OF NAMES ON BALLOT -- RESTRICTIONS.

        49.31  ARRANGEMENT OF NAMES ON BALLOT --
      RESTRICTIONS.
         1. a.  All ballots shall be arranged with the names of
      candidates for each office listed below the office title.  For
      partisan elections the name of the political party or organization
      which nominated each candidate shall be listed after or below each
      candidate's name.
         b.  The commissioner shall determine the order of political
      parties and nonparty political organizations on the ballot.  The
      sequence shall be the same for each office on the ballot and for each
      precinct in the county voting in the election.
         2. a.  The commissioner shall prepare a list of the election
      precincts of the county, by arranging the various townships and
      cities in the county in alphabetical order, and the wards or
      precincts in each city or township in numerical order under the name
      of such city or township.
         b.  The commissioner shall then arrange the surnames of each
      political party's candidates for each office to which two or more
      persons are to be elected at large alphabetically for the respective
      offices for the first precinct on the list; thereafter, for each
      political party and for each succeeding precinct, the names appearing
      first for the respective offices in the last preceding precinct shall
      be placed last, so that the names that were second before the change
      shall be first after the change.  The commissioner may also rotate
      the names of candidates of a political party in the reverse order of
      that provided in this subsection or alternate the rotation so that
      the candidates of different parties shall not be paired as they
      proceed through the rotation.  The procedure for arrangement of names
      on ballots provided in this section shall likewise be substantially
      followed in elections in political subdivisions of less than a
      county.
         c.  On the general election ballot the names of candidates for
      the nonpartisan offices listed in section 39.21 shall be arranged by
      drawing lots for position.  The commissioner shall hold the drawing
      on the first business day following the deadline for filing of
      nomination certificates or petitions with the commissioner for the
      general election pursuant to section 44.4.  If a candidate withdraws,
      dies, or is removed from the ballot after the ballot position of
      names has been determined, such candidate's name shall be removed
      from the ballot, and the order of the remaining names shall not be
      changed.
         3.  The ballots for any city elections, school elections, special
      election, or any other election at which any office is to be filled
      on a nonpartisan basis and the statutes governing the office to be
      filled are silent as to the arrangement of names on the ballot, shall
      contain the names of all nominees or candidates arranged in
      alphabetical order by surname under the heading of the office to be
      filled.  When a city election, school election, special election, or
      any other election at which an office is to be filled on a
      nonpartisan basis, is held in more than one precinct, the candidates'
      names shall be rotated on the ballot from precinct to precinct in the
      manner prescribed by subsection 2 unless there are no more candidates
      for an office than the number of persons to be elected to that
      office.
         4.  The heading for each office on the ballot shall be immediately
      followed by a notation stating, "Vote for no more than ...", and
      indicating the maximum number of nominees or candidates for that
      office for whom each elector may vote.
         5.  At the end of the list of candidates for each office listed on
      the ballot one or more blank lines and voting positions shall be
      printed to allow the elector to write in the name of any person for
      whom the elector desires to vote for any office or nomination on the
      ballot.  The number of write-in lines shall equal the number of votes
      that can be cast for that office.
         6.  The name of a candidate printed on the ballot shall not
      include parentheses, quotation marks, or any personal or professional
      title.
         7.  For the purpose of ballot rotation the absentee ballot and
      special voters precinct may be considered a separate precinct.  

         Section History: Early Form

         [C97, § 1106; S13, § 1106, 2754; C24, 27, § 749, 4203; C31, 35, §
      749, 4216-c8; C39, § 749, 4216.08; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71,
      73, § 49.31, 277.8; C75, 77, 79, 81, § 49.31] 

         Section History: Recent Form

         86 Acts, ch 1224, § 11, 12; 87 Acts, ch 221, § 13, 14; 89 Acts, ch
      136, §36; 90 Acts, ch 1238, § 18; 91 Acts, ch 129, §12; 97 Acts, ch
      170, § 30--32; 2002 Acts, ch 1134, §32, 115; 2006 Acts, ch 1002, §2,
      4; 2008 Acts, ch 1032, §150
         Referred to in § 43.28, 43.31, 49.53, 49.57A