2009 Iowa Code
Title 2 - Elections and Official Duties
Subtitle 1 - Elections
CHAPTER 49 - METHOD OF CONDUCTING ELECTIONS
49.73 - TIME OF OPENING AND CLOSING POLLS.

        49.73  TIME OF OPENING AND CLOSING POLLS.
         1.  At all elections, except as otherwise permitted by this
      section, the polls shall be opened at 7:00 a.m. if at least one
      official from each of the political parties referred to in section
      49.13 is present.  On the basis of voter turnout for recent similar
      elections and factors considered likely to so affect voter turnout
      for the forthcoming election as to justify shortened voting hours for
      that election, the commissioner may direct that the polls be opened
      at 12:00 noon for:
         a.  Any school district election.
         b.  Any election conducted for a city, including a local
      option sales and services tax election conducted pursuant to section
      423B.1.  At elections conducted pursuant to chapter 423B, all polling
      places shall have the same voting hours.
         c.  Any election conducted for a benefited district.
         d.  Any election conducted for the unincorporated area of a
      county.
         2.  The commissioner shall not shorten voting hours for any
      election if there is filed in the commissioner's office, at least
      twenty-five days before the election, a petition signed by at least
      fifty eligible electors of the school district or city, as the case
      may be, requesting that the polls be opened not later than 7:00 a.m.
      All polling places where the candidates of or any public question
      submitted by any one political subdivision are being voted upon shall
      be opened at the same hour, except that this requirement shall not
      apply to merged areas established under chapter 260C.  The hours at
      which the respective precinct polling places are to open shall not be
      changed after publication of the notice required by section 49.53.
      The polling places shall be closed at 9:00 p.m. for state primary and
      general elections and other partisan elections, and for any other
      election held concurrently therewith, and at 8:00 p.m. for all other
      elections.  

         Section History: Early Form

         [C51, § 251; R60, § 486; C73, § 611; C97, § 1096, 2751, 2754,
      2756; S13, § 1087-a6, 1096, 2754, 2756; C24, 27, § 565, 791, 4202,
      4211; C31, 35, § 565, 791, 4216-c9; C39, § 565, 791, 4216.09;
      C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, § 43.37, 49.73, 277.9; C75, 77, 79,
      81, § 49.73] 

         Section History: Recent Form

         94 Acts, ch 1180, §13; 2002 Acts, ch 1134, §37, 38, 115; 2007
      Acts, ch 59, §11, 19; 2008 Acts, ch 1115, §97; 2009 Acts, ch 138, §1
         Referred to in § 53.2