Students at Iowa's public universities would not be allowed to vote early on campus under a wide-ranging election bill that advanced in the Iowa Senate this week.

The expansive measure would also make changes to other state election laws. Should it become law, the bill would shorten the number of hours polling places are open on Election Day, change the rules for absentee ballots to require them to be delivered by the time the polls close and require a county's property tax information to be included on the ballot for bond measures.

One of the bill's provisions would prevent satellite voting locations from being set up "in any state-owned building." Critics say that unfairly targets the state's three public universities — the University of Iowa, Iowa State University and the University of Northern Iowa — while allowing private schools to continue providing satellite voting opportunities on campus.

Those who voted at the University of Iowa sites in the last two elections tended to be overwhelmingly Democratic.

Related:Iowa Supreme Court allows shorter early voting period for 2018 election

"I’m not sure why we are making that kind of distinction. It seems to be a bit discriminatory," said Sen. Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque.

Sen. Roby Smith, R-Davenport, who chaired the Senate State Government Committee that approved the measure on a party-line vote Thursday, said the bill provides uniformity to elections in Iowa because some counties have more state-owned buildings than others.

Democrats say the bill would prohibit satellite voting at community colleges, but Smith says those institutions would not be affected.

Smith said there are a variety of other ways for people to vote aside from an on-campus satellite location, like at a county courthouse or auditor's office, via absentee ballot or at their polling place on Election Day.

"They can still have satellite voting just right off campus," he said.

Related:Iowa voter ID law: Judge strikes rule on absentee ballots as 'irrational, illogical and wholly unjustifiable'

'There's no rhyme or reason' to change, auditor says

Travis Weipert, the Democratic auditor in Johnson County, said satellite voting sites on the University of Iowa's campus give students a convenient opportunity to register and vote early instead of adding to long lines on Election Day.

Weipert said his office also runs a satellite voting site at a university-owned hospital building, which he called "one of our biggest turnout sites." That location would also be nixed if the bill becomes law.

"There’s no rhyme or reason to take that away from the folks there," he said. "We’re providing a service to them so that they can vote."

Between the hospital and the Iowa Memorial Union, Johnson County saw 2,284 people vote early at a university building in the 2018 general election. Two-thirds of those voters were Democrats, 8 percent were Republicans and the remainder were no party, Green Party or Libertarian Party voters.

In 2016, 4,329 people voted early at a University of Iowa satellite voting site. Fifty-six percent of those voters were Democrats, 13 percent were Republicans and the rest were no party or other voters.

Taylor Blair, president of the Iowa State University College Democrats, called early voting on campus "a huge blessing for students."

"We have crazy schedules. Like everyone else in the world we have classes, we have work. And people can just run over there and vote," he said.

Blair said just under 1,900 people voted early on Iowa State's campus in the 2018 election and about 3,140 did so in 2016. Blair is one of the plaintiffs suing the state over a 2017 voter identification law, which he argues violates sections of the Iowa Constitution.

"I already feel like we’re fighting for our lives out here just to have Americans be able to vote, specifically young people, and I read this just screaming inside because it’s even worse," Blair said of the Senate bill. "It’s explicitly targeting students."

Kyle Apple, chair of the University of Iowa College Republicans, said there are parts of the bill he likes and parts that he'd like to see amended. He was surprised to see the provision about prohibiting satellite voting at state-owned buildings.

"I had never really heard a problem with the location of it until now so that just kind of struck me as odd," he said.

He said he doesn't believe the bill is intended to be discriminatory but he would like to see all colleges and universities treated the same.

"I do think for the consistency of things the bill should either prevent all schools from hosting satellite locations or allow all schools to," Apple said.

Students at the three public universities would also be asked to fill out a form when they graduate, notifying the Iowa Secretary of State whether they plan to move out of Iowa or remain in the state, if the bill becomes law. If leaving Iowa, the graduates would be removed from the voter rolls, with the exception of absentee military voters.

Smith said the form would help clean up the state's voter rolls. Students staying in Iowa would have the option of providing their new addresses so they could re-register, he said.

"If they’re moving back home or moving to a new community, they can put their new address on there, they can get updated right away and then they’re ready to vote for the next election," Smith said.

Weipert said there's already a process in place to cancel someone's registration if they register to vote in another state.

"It just seems weird to entice students to get their names off the voter rolls," Weipert said.

Apple said he supports that part of the bill, but would like to see it applied equally to all colleges and universities.

"Having students self-report that information is easier than the secretary of state’s office having to go and find it themselves when they’re cleaning up the voter rolls," he said.

The measure would change voting hours, absentee ballots

No groups are registered in favor of the bill. Several organizations are opposed, including the Iowa State Association of County Auditors and the League of Women Voters of Iowa. Some groups are undecided.

Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the League of Women Voters, said the state is still implementing the last big change to Iowa election law — the 2017 voter ID measure. That law still faces a pair of legal challenges.

"We’re still educating people to that. It’s still being implemented so I think another big batch of changes might cause confusion right now," she said.

Some of the bill's additional provisions: