2009 Iowa Code
Title 2 - Elections and Official Duties
Subtitle 1 - Elections
CHAPTER 52 - VOTING SYSTEMS
52.5 - TESTING AND EXAMINATION OF VOTING EQUIPMENT.

        52.5  TESTING AND EXAMINATION OF VOTING EQUIPMENT.
         1.  A person or corporation owning or being interested in an
      optical scan voting system may request that the state commissioner
      call upon the board of examiners to examine and test the system.
      Within seven days of receiving a request for examination and test,
      the state commissioner shall notify the board of examiners of the
      request in writing and set a time and place for the examination and
      test.
         2.  The state commissioner shall formulate, with the advice and
      assistance of the examiners, and adopt rules governing the testing
      and examination of any optical scan voting system by the board of
      examiners.  The rules shall prescribe the method to be used in
      determining whether the system is suitable for use within the state
      and performance standards for voting equipment in use within the
      state.  The rules shall provide that all optical scan voting systems
      approved for use by the examiners after April 9, 2003, shall meet
      voting systems performance and test standards, as adopted by the
      federal election commission on April 30, 2002, and as deemed adopted
      by Pub. L. No. 107-252, § 222.  The rules shall include standards for
      determining when recertification is necessary following modifications
      to the equipment or to the programs used in tabulating votes, and a
      procedure for rescinding certification if a system is found not to
      comply with performance standards adopted by the state commissioner.

         3.  The state commissioner may employ a competent person or
      persons to assist the examiners in their evaluation of the equipment
      and to advise the examiners as to the sufficiency of the equipment.
      Consultant fees shall be paid by the person who requested the
      certification.  Following the examination and testing of the optical
      scan voting system, the examiners shall report to the state
      commissioner describing the testing and examination of the system and
      upon the capacity of the system to register the will of voters, its
      accuracy and efficiency, and with respect to its mechanical
      perfections and imperfections.  Their report shall be filed in the
      office of the state commissioner and shall state whether in their
      opinion the kind of system so examined can be safely used by voters
      at elections under the conditions prescribed in this chapter.  If the
      report states that the system can be so used, it shall be deemed
      approved by the examiners, and systems of its kind may be adopted for
      use at elections as provided in this section.  Any form of system not
      so approved cannot be used at any election.
         4.  Before actual use by a county of a particular optical scan
      voting system which has been approved for use in this state, the
      state commissioner shall formulate, with the advice and assistance of
      the examiners, and adopt rules governing the development of vote
      counting programs and all procedures used in actual counting of votes
      by means of that system.  

         Section History: Early Form

         [S13, § 1137-a10; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 908; C46, 50, 54, 58,
      62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 52.5] 

         Section History: Recent Form

         86 Acts, ch 1224, § 19; 89 Acts, ch 136, §50; 2004 Acts, ch 1083,
      §26, 37; 2007 Acts, ch 190, §29; 2009 Acts, ch 57, §50
         Referred to in § 52.6