Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Iowa felons (who can pay) see start of a long path to voting rights

Gavel

If a many-step process is completed, freed felons who pay restitution will get back voting rights in Iowa.

Aitor Diago/Getty Images

Iowa has taken a small but significant step toward ending its status as the only state where all felons are prohibited from voting, but returning the franchise to some 60,000 former convicts remains at least several years away.

The state Senate gave bipartisan passage Tuesday to a measure that would require felons to fully pay restitution to their victims to regain the right to vote. One-third of the chamber's Democrats voted "yes" and the bill has been endorsed by GOP Gov. Kim Reynolds, increasing chances the state House will go along.

But that measure would come into play only if the General Assembly votes in two successive legislative sessions to amend the state Constitution to allow felon voting and then voters ratify the idea in a statewide referendum.


Currently, the Iowa Constitution permanently bans felons from voting even after they complete the terms of their sentences, including probation and restitution payments. The only way these people get to vote again is by winning a special reprieve from the governor.

Conditioning voting rights on having the financial resources to make payments, which is very difficult for many people newly out of prison, is being challenged as an unconstitutional de facto poll tax in Florida. That requirement was added by the GOP Legislature last year after Florida voters approved a sweeping reenfranchisement for felons.

Last year, the Iowa House passed a constitutional amendment that would have automatically restored voting rights to felons after they get out of prison. The proposal died in the Senate in part because a critical mass of lawmakers wanted to restrict who could qualify.

Reynolds, who supports enfranchising felons once they agree to restitution payment plans, said Tuesday that she backs the Senate bill as a worthy compromise. "If that's what it takes to get things done, we have to be willing to take a look and listen to what both sides are saying," she said.

Still, 2023 is the earliest felons could gain ballot access — and that's only if a constitutional amendment, which hasn't moved yet on either side of the state capital, gets all the way through the General Assembly for a first time before lawmakers adjourn April 21. A repeat vote next year would get the measure on the ballot for voters to have the final say in November 2022.

Reynolds could slap a Band-Aid on the issue with an executive order granting voting rights to felons as Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky — another state whose constitution bans felons from voting — did as soon as he took office in December. Reynolds has so far been reluctant to do so, preferring lawmakers pass a permanent change to enfranchise felons.

Read More

Defend Democracy Against Bombardments on the Elections Front –A Three-Part Series
polling station poster on clear glass door

Defend Democracy Against Bombardments on the Elections Front –A Three-Part Series

In Part One, Pat Merloe explored the impact of the political environment, the need for constitutional defense against power-grabbing, and the malign effects of proof of citizenship on voting.

In the second part of the three-part series, Merloe explores the harmful effects of Executive Orders, the reversal of the Justice Department on voting rights, and the effects of political retribution.

Keep ReadingShow less
Defend Democracy Against Bombardments on the Elections Front –A Three-Part Series
Voted printed papers on white surface

Defend Democracy Against Bombardments on the Elections Front –A Three-Part Series

In Part 1, Pat Merloe examines the impact of the political environment, the necessity of constitutional defense against power-grabbing, and the detrimental effects of proof of citizenship on voting.

Part One: Bellicose Environment, Constitutional Infringements, and Disenfranchisement by Proof of Citizenship

The intense MAGA barrage against genuine elections, leading up to 2024’s voting, paused briefly after Election Day - not because there was diminished MAGA hostility towards typically trustworthy processes and results, but mainly because Donald Trump won. Much valuable work took place to protect last year’s polls, and much more will be needed as we head toward 2026, 2028, and beyond.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rear view diverse voters waiting for polling place to open
SDI Productions/Getty Images

Open Primaries Topic Creates a Major Tension for Independents

Open primaries create fine opportunities for citizens who are registered as independents or unaffiliated voters to vote for either Democrats or Republicans in primary elections, but they tacitly undermine the mission of those independents who are opposed to both major parties by luring them into establishment electoral politics. Indeed, independents who are tempted to support independent candidates or an independent political movement can be converted to advocates of our duopoly if their states have one form or another of Open Primaries.

Twenty U.S. states currently have Open Primaries for at least one political party at the presidential, congressional, and state levels, including Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin. At least 15 states conduct "semi-closed" primaries, a middle position in which unaffiliated voters still have an option to choose to vote in one of the major party primaries. 

Keep ReadingShow less
Voter registration
The national voter registration form is now available in 20 non-English languages, including three Native American languages.
SDI Productions

With Ranked Choice Voting in NYC, Women Win

As New York prepares to choose its next city council and mayor in primaries this week, it’s worth remembering that the road to gender equality in the nation’s largest city has been long and slow.

Before 2021, New York’s 51-member council had always been majority male. Women hadn’t even gotten close to a majority. The best showing had been 18 seats, just a tick above 35 percent.

Keep ReadingShow less