Iowa Code § 50.19 (2026)

1. The commissioner may destroy precinct election registers, the declarations of eligibility signed by voters, and other material pertaining to any election in which federal offices are not on the ballot, except the tally lists and abstracts of votes which have not been electronically recorded, twenty-two months after the election if a contest is not pending. If a contest is pending, all election materials shall be preserved until final determination of the contest or until twenty-two months after the election, whichever is later. Before destroying the election registers and declarations of eligibility, the commissioner shall prepare records as necessary to permit compliance with chapter 48A, subchapter V.

2. Material pertaining to elections for federal offices, including ballots, precinct election registers, declarations of eligibility signed by voters, documents relating to absentee ballots, and challenges of voters, shall be preserved for twenty-two months after the election. If a contest is not pending the materials may be destroyed at the end of the retention period. [C51, §268; R60, §333, 503, 1131; C73, §503, 629; C97, §1145; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §858; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §50.19] 89 Acts, ch 136, §46; 94 Acts, ch 1169, §52; 98 Acts, ch 1119, §29; 2010 Acts, ch 1033, §24; 2025 Acts, ch 123, §13 Referred to in §43.61, 50.12, 53.30, 53.40, 53.41 Subsection 1 amended \n