Resolution to support passage of the Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections Act (House File 805 & Senate File 553)

WHEREAS, a fundamental tenet of democracy is government “of, by and for the people”; and

WHEREAS, our political system at all levels is increasingly dominated by the influence of large sums of private money that finance electoral campaigns, and

WHEREAS, this influence diminishes the right of all Iowans to equal and meaningful participation in the democratic process, and

WHEREAS, a number of states – including Arizona, Maine and Connecticut – have adopted systems of clean elections which provide full public financing for primary and general campaigns to candidates who opt to run “clean campaigns,” and

WHEREAS, such voluntary voter owned election laws have helped to restore democracy and public confidence in the election and governing processes of those states; and

WHEREAS, the State Government Committee of the Iowa House and Senate, have approved HF805 and SF 553 – the Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections Act (VOICE) on a bi-partisan basis;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that Iowa pass Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections (VOICE) legislation, as spelled out in HF 805 and SF 553. Under this law an election system will be established in which candidates could choose to no longer raise money from private sources. Instead, each participating candidate would receive a set amount of money from a publicly financed election fund. Spending by the candidate would be limited to the amount they get from the election fund.