July 25, 2019 •
Two Proposed Iowa Constitutional Amendments Delayed
Because of a clerical error by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office, voters in the state will not have a chance to vote on two recently passed constitutional amendments until 2022 at the earliest.
In 2018, the Iowa legislature passed two constitutional amendments. One proposed amendment requires any review of state legislation affecting the right to own firearms be subject to a judicial review standard of strict scrutiny.
The other proposed amendment deals with the line of gubernatorial succession for any vacancies of that office.
For the amendments to be added the state’s constitution, they must be passed a second time by the next sitting legislature and then be voted on by the citizens of the state.
However, after an amendment’s first passage, notice must be given to voters three months prior to the election of the next legislature.
According to Governing.com, the secretary of state’s office missed the deadline to file the notice for the public, requiring the process to restart and resulting in the earliest opportunity for the amendments to appear for voters’ approval to be 2022.
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