Meeting Public Comments

Subcommittee meeting and times are as follows:

A bill for an act allowing for the use of ranked choice voting in city elections, and including effective date and applicability provisions.

Subcommittee members: Dunwell-CH, Cooling, Golding

Date: Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Time: 3:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Location: House Lounge

Names and comments are public records. Remaining information is considered a confidential record.

Comments Submitted:

02-21-2023

Shannon Patrick

I defer to the auditors on the technical requirements of this bill, but I heartily support a move towards rankedchoice voting. Let's face it: much of Iowa is simply not competitive for one party or the other (I live in one of those places), and rankedchoice gives the people in the minority more meaningful participation than just watching their candidates lose ever election. An even better bill would allow rankedchoice voting at a county level as well as at the city level.

02-22-2023

Linda Schreiber

Most U.S. elections are plurality elections. The candidate who receives the most votes wins, regardless of the vote share. This means sometimes a candidate can win without receiving a majority of the vote. Rank Choice Voting helps reduce the potential for negative campaigns because the system incentivizes second and even thirdplace rankings, so candidates need to appeal to a broader base of voters. With Iowa voters almost evenly divided between Independent, Republican and Democrat registered voters maligning an opponent and their platform, and, by extension, their voter base, is no longer a practical campaign strategy. This shift to prioritize voters might also serve to lessen the influence of monied interests. Why limit rank choice voting to only city elections? Iowans are pretty sharp people and will be able to learn the mechanics of such a system quickly. After all, theyve managed to caucus for candidates for years.