Iowa Code § 49.99 (2026)

1. The voter may also write on the line provided for write-in votes the name of any person for whom the voter desires to vote and mark the voting target opposite the name. If the voter is using a voting system other than an optical scan voting system, as defined in section 52.1, the writing of the name shall constitute a valid vote for the person whose name has been written on the ballot without regard to whether the voter has made a mark opposite the name. However, when a write-in vote is cast using an optical scan voting system, the ballot must also be marked in the corresponding space in order to be counted. Marking the voting target opposite a write-in line without writing a name on the line shall not affect the validity of the remainder of the ballot.

2. If a voter writes the name of a person more than once in the proper places on a ballot for an office to which more than one person is to be elected, all but one of those votes for that person for that office are void and shall not be counted. [C97, §1119; S13, §1119; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §816; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §49.99] 86 Acts, ch 1224, §13; 90 Acts, ch 1238, §22; 97 Acts, ch 170, §53; 2007 Acts, ch 190, §26; 2009 Acts, ch 57, §36 \n