Iowa 2020 ballot measures

Elections in Iowa, 2020

• Election date: Nov. 3
• Registration deadline(s): Oct. 24
• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: Yes
• Recount laws

• Early voting starts: Oct. 5
• Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Nov. 2 (postmarked); Nov. 9 (received)
• Processing, counting, and challenging absentee/mail-in ballots
• Voter ID: Non-photo ID
• Poll times: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m

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2020 Iowa Ballot Measures
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One statewide measure was certified for the 2020 ballot in the state of Iowa. It was defeated.

HIGHLIGHTS

Voters defeated an automatic ballot referral asking whether or not Iowa should hold a constitutional convention. If the measure had been approved, a constitutional convention would have been held. Any changes to the constitution proposed by a convention must be ratified by a majority vote of the electors at a statewide election.

On the ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
ABR	Constitional Convention Question	Constitional conventions	Voters determine whether Iowa will hold a constitutional convention	d

Getting measures on the ballot

See also: Amending the Iowa Constitution, Article X of the Iowa Constitution, and Laws governing ballot measures in Iowa

Iowa is one of the 24 states that do not have initiative and referendum. Thus, Iowa citizens cannot qualify a ballot measure for the statewide ballot through collecting signatures. All states but Delaware require voter approval of constitutional amendments proposed by the legislature. Fifteen states besides Iowa afford their citizens only this form of direct democracy on a statewide level; those states are Alabama, Connecticut, Hawaii, Indiana, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.

Iowa citizens have statewide access to just one of the six common forms of direct democracy--they can approve or reject constitutional amendments placed on the ballot by the Iowa State Legislature. To put a legislatively referred constitutional amendment before voters, a simple majority vote is required in both the Iowa State Senate and the Iowa House of Representatives in two successive legislative sessions with an election for state legislators in between. Every two years, half of the state senators and all of the members of the state House are up for election. Once an amendment is on the ballot, it must be approved by "a majority of the electors qualified to vote for members of the general assembly, voting thereon" in order to become part of the constitution.

Publication process

When a constitutional amendment has passed the general assembly in the first session and thus been referred to the succeeding legislature, the state legislature is required by Article X in the Iowa Constitution to publish the amendment in two newspapers in each of Iowa's congressional districts and on the legislature's website once per month for three months. Before the approval of House File 764 of 2019, this was the duty of the Secretary of State. House File 764 of 2019 also provides that a proposed amendment that has been agreed to by two succeeding sessions of the general assembly cannot be invalidated due to an error or omission in the publication process.

Constitutional conventions

Constitutional convention questions may appear on the statewide ballot under these conditions:

• Since 1970, a question asking whether or not to hold a constitutional convention must automatically appear on the ballot every 10 years.
• The Iowa General Assembly can vote to put a constitutional convention question on a statewide ballot at other times.
• If either the legislatively referred question or the automatic question are approved, a constitutional convention must be held.
• Any changes to the constitution proposed by the convention must be ratified by a majority vote of the electors at a statewide election.

Not on the ballot

See also: Proposed ballot measures that were not on a ballot

Type	Title	Subject	Description	Result
LRCA	Right to Firearms Amendment	Firearms	Establishes a right to keep and bear arms in the state constitution
LRCA	Gubernatorial Succession Amendment	Administration of government	Clarifies rules regarding gubernatorial succession

Oversight in publication process voided the first-session vote on amendments

Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate (R) said that his office failed to report constitutional amendments that the 86th Iowa General Assembly (2017-2018) approved in 2018. The Iowa Constitution required notifications of the constitutional amendments to be published at least three months before November 2018.

In March and April 2018, the legislature approved (1) an amendment to provide a state right to own and bear firearms and (2) an amendment to allow the governor to appoint a lieutenant governor in the event of a vacant office and revise the gubernatorial line of succession. In Iowa, constitutional amendments are referred to the ballot for voter consideration after approval during two successive legislative sessions with legislative elections in between. The 87th Iowa State Legislature (2019-2020) needed to approve the constitutional amendments one more time for them to appear on the ballot in 2020.

Both of the constitutional amendments received the support of legislative Republicans in 2018. Senate Democrats were divided on both of the constitutional amendments. House Democrats opposed both of the constitutional amendments.

Historical facts

• Between 1996 and 2018, an average of less than one measure appeared annually on the ballot in Iowa.
• Between 1996 and 2018, there were only six years (1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2008, and 2010) in which there was at least one measure on Iowa's statewide ballot.
• The number of measures on a statewide ballot from 1996 through 2018 ranged from zero to two.
• Between 1996 and 2018, five of nine, or 56 percent, of Iowa ballot measures were approved by voters.
• Conversely, four of nine, or 44 percent, of measures were defeated.

See also

• Iowa State Senate
• Iowa House of Representatives
• 2020 ballot measures