Statewide Iowa (RI) — State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat who is running for governor, is proposing term limits for legislators and statewide elected officials as well as mandatory prison time for any public official convicted of embezzling tax dollars.
Sand supports banning Iowa elected officials from trading stocks. He says candidates should be required to pass both a cognitive test and a civics test before they’re allowed to run for election or re‑election.
Sand is also calling for open primaries, so independents no longer have to change their party registration to Republican or Democrat in order to vote in the primary elections that choose which candidates qualify for the General Election.
Republican Party officials say Sand has previously praised ranked choice voting, which they say leads to long delays in getting election results and is illegal in Iowa under a state law passed last year.
“What I have proposed would have quick results, same night. It is not ranked choice voting,” Sand said. “What I have proposed would give independent voters an equal voice and anybody who says anything other is because they’re desperate to keep it.”
As for term and age limits on state officials, the Iowa Constitution only requires members of the Iowa House to be 21, state senators to be 25, and governors to be 30 when sworn into office.
Sand says, as governor, he’d have conversations with legislators to come up with the retirement age and term limits they’d vote for.
Sand was elected state auditor in 2018 and reelected in 2022. He is the only candidate running in the Democratic Party’s Primary for governor.
KIWA Staff Photo
