Voter turnout is typically low for school board elections. Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate says turnout is usually 4-7% of registered voters.
"We can do better," says Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, "especially when you think about how there are 480-thousand K-12 kids in our public schools and it’s 60 percent of our state budget."
On this politics day edition of River to River, Ben Kieffer hosts a discussion on the results and turnout of yesterday's elections. Johnson County had a higher than normal turnout with almost 23 percent of registered voters in the Iowa City Community School District showing up to the polls. A bond referendum was also on the ballot in that district, and voters approved $191.5 million in funding for facilities projects.
Guests are political scientists Chris Larimer of the University of Northern Iowa and Hans Hassell of Cornell College. In addition to local election results, they also discuss President Donald Trump's collaboration with Democrats, congressional tax reform, Hillary Clinton’s book tour, and a single-payer health care bill proposal from Bernie Sanders.
