Iowa Admin. Code r. 721-28.4

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 5, September 4, 2024

Rule 721-28.4 - Cancellations and restorations of voter registration due to felony conviction

(1) Based upon information provided to the state registrar by the state or federal judicial branch and by the governor, the state registrar shall maintain a list of felons convicted in State of Iowa District Courts and the United States District Courts of the Northern and Southern Districts of Iowa and a list of convicted felons whose voting rights have been restored by the governor of Iowa. Periodically, these lists shall be matched with I-Voters. Based upon predetermined search criteria, a list of likely matches of ineligible voters shall be produced for each county and provided to each county registrar.

(2) The state registrar has a demonstrated institutional need for documentation that sufficiently establishes an individual defendant's felony conviction. Therefore, the state registrar shall collaborate with the judicial branch to obtain documentation about felony convictions in a timely, efficient fashion, which shall include documentation sufficient to establish an individual defendant's felony conviction. When the state registrar receives felony conviction information from the United States attorney pursuant to Iowa Code section 48A.30(1) "d," the state registrar shall request documentation sufficient to establish conviction of an offense classified as a felony under federal law. The state registrar shall verify any conviction information provided pursuant to Iowa Code section 48A.30(1) "d" prior to adding an individual to the list of convicted felons maintained pursuant to subrule 28.4(1).

(3) Within 30 days of the receipt of the list produced by the state registrar in accordance with subrule 28.4(1), the county registrar shall review the list of likely matches, determine the accuracy of the search results based on first name, last name, date of birth and social security number and cancel the registrations of those voters found to be ineligible to vote. The county registrar may also utilize sex, Iowa driver's license or nonoperator's identification numbers, and previous names, if available, to determine the accuracy of the search results. If the county registrar has questions regarding a felony conviction, the county registrar shall contact the court of conviction's clerk of court. Notice shall be sent to the voter at the voter's address in the voter registration file pursuant to Iowa Code section 48A.30(2). The notice shall be sent by forwardable mail and shall provide the voter an opportunity to have the county registrar review any relevant information that establishes the voter's eligibility to vote. When inclusion of a voter's name on the list of likely matches is found to be inaccurate, the registrar shall mark the record as a "no match" and provide that information to the state registrar.

(4) New applicants for registration entered into I-Voters by a county registrar shall be electronically matched against the list of convicted felons in the file, and applicants disqualified due to felony conviction shall not be registered as voters. The county registrar shall notify the registration applicant of the applicant's disqualification in the same manner as provided for in subrule 28.4(2) above.

Iowa Admin. Code r. 721-28.4

Amended by IAB February 12, 2020/Volume XLII, Number 17, effective 3/18/2020

Amended by IAB December 1, 2021/Volume XLIV, Number 11, effective 1/5/2022