State Auditor Rob Sand — a Democrat who’s running for governor — says Iowa’s Primary Elections should be open to any registered voter, not just to those who are registered as Democrats or Republicans.
“The idea that right now in the state of Iowa a third of our state are registered independents whose tax dollars pay for elections that they are not allowed to vote in is unAmerican,” Sand said.
The subject came up in Waukee tonight at the first of 100 town hall forums Sand has scheduled over the next four months. During an interview with Radio Iowa afterwards, Sand said the current law that lets Iowans switch their party registration so they can vote in a primary is inadequate. “Some people will tell you: ‘I feel like that’s lying. I’m not a member of this party and I shouldn’t sign up as one to participate in the primary,'” Sand said.
Sand suggested an open primary is the answer. “Every Democrat, every Republican, every Green, Libertarian — whatever — every independent is on the ballot if they get enough signatures,” Sand said. “You walk in, you vote for your one favorite. You send the top four or five to the General Election.”
Sand said the winner of the November election could be determined by what’s called approval voting. “So if there’s five candidates and there’s two in my party who I really like, but I also really respect this other person who’s in the other party, I can also vote for them,” Sand said.
The winner winds up being the candidate with the highest approval rating. “If we did that our politics would be more civil, our politicians would be more honest and most importantly…you could reward people — elected officials — for actually solving problems,” Sand told Radio Iowa.
Voters in Fargo, North Dakota passed a referendum in 2018 that set up approval voting in the past three city elections, but two months ago, North Dakota’s governor signed a law that bans approval voting.