Amendment One
No, I’m not talking about the First Amendment and free speech, although that is important. I’m talking about the fact that there are two separate amendments to the Iowa state constitution that voters will pass judgment on in the November general election. We’ll talk about one today, and the other tomorrow.
Proposed Amendment One deals with elections, and has two separate—and in my mind, unrelated—parts. The proposed amendment would make it against the state constitution for non-U.S. citizens to vote in Iowa elections…and would separately allow those who are under 18 years of age to vote in our state primary election if the voter will be 18 by the time of the general election.
I don’t like bundling like this; it may be fine to bundle your house and car insurance in one policy, but these issues should be decided up-or-down on their own merits.
While it is already against Iowa law to vote as a non-U.S. citizen, this amendment would prevent individual cities or even the state legislature from allowing non-citizens to vote. Those against the provision say it would make Iowa less inviting to others; I’d suggest that a state that took following its laws seriously might actually be more inviting to an even larger group.
The other provision has to do with younger voters. If a voter is 18, he or she can vote in the general election. This would allow a 17-year-old to vote in the June primary if he or she turns 18 before the general election. The theory is that if you can vote in the general, you ought to be able to decide who the candidates will be in that general. Each major party already allows 17-year-olds to participate in their precinct caucuses, typically held in January; that’s because the parties themselves handle the caucuses, and the state elections office is not involved. So you have situations where a 17-year-old participated in a January caucus, but could not vote in a June primary, but will be 18 in time for the November general election.
I’m a fan of dates and rules. You can’t drink until you’re 21…no exceptions for an earlier sip if you will be 21 by a later event. Call it the luck of when you are born, but I’m in favor of 18 meaning 18.
I can easily see lots of folks doing coin flips on this; they might be in favor of one half of the amendment, or the other, but not both. That’s the problem with bundling, whether in the legislature or on a ballot.
Tomorrow…how a proposed amendment would change succession for elected officials.
