Iowa Code § 49.44 (2026)

1. When a proposed constitutional amendment or other public measure to be decided by the voters of the entire state is to be voted upon, the state commissioner shall prepare a written summary of the amendment or measure including the number of the amendment or statewide public measure assigned by the state commissioner. The summary shall be printed immediately preceding the text of the proposed amendment or measure on the paper ballot or optical scan ballot referred to in section 49.43. If the complete text of the proposed amendment or public measure will not fit on the ballot it shall be posted inside the voting booth. A copy of the full text shall be included with any absentee ballots.

2. The commissioner may prepare a summary for public measures if the commissioner finds that a summary is needed to clarify the question to the voters. [C73, §49.43; C75, 77, 79, 81, §49.44; 81 Acts, ch 34, §27] 89 Acts, ch 136, §38; 97 Acts, ch 170, §40; 2007 Acts, ch 190, §24; 2009 Acts, ch 57, §27; 2021 Acts, ch 147, §27, 54 Referred to in §39.4, 49.43, 52.25, 145A.7, 468.184, 468.259\n\n 49.45 General form of ballot. Ballots referred to in section 49.43 shall be substantially in the following form: Shall the following amendment to the Constitution (or public measure) be adopted? ☐ Yes ☐ No \n (Here insert the summary, if it is for a constitutional amendment or statewide public measure, and in full the proposed constitutional amendment or public measure. The number assigned by the state commissioner or the letter assigned by the county commissioner shall be included on the ballot centered above the question, “Shall the following amendment to the Constitution [or public measure] be adopted?”.) [C97, §1106; S13, §1106; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §763; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, S81, §49.45; 81 Acts, ch 34, §28] 97 Acts, ch 170, §41 Referred to in §39.4, 145A.7, 468.184, 468.259 \n