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Human rights and agricultural policies pertaining to Iowa’s high cancer rate were major topics of concern at the Clarke County Democrats’ county convention last Saturday, March 21. They elected delegates to the upcoming district and state Democratic conventions and heard from local candidate Paul Davis of Lamoni, who is running against Sonya Hicks of Osceola in the June 2 Democratic primary election for District 24 state representative.
Voters currently registered with no party affiliation can re-register as Democrat or Republican through June 2 to vote in the primary, but they are encouraged to do so ahead of time to ensure that their affiliation is entered into the system in a timely manner so that election results can be processed more quickly.
The county delegates enacted the following Clarke County Democrats Platform, which will be forwarded to the Third Congressional District Democrats’ Platform Committee for further consideration for the Third District and State 2026 Platforms yet to be enacted. The fifth plank under the Agriculture section is notable for its bipartisan support of a bill that was introduced last year by Republican Senator Amy Sinclair.
General Statement of Principles
We believe that basic human rights include clean air and water, a free public education, access to health care, and due process of law.
Agriculture, Energy & the Environment
1. We support legal protection from pesticide drift.
2. We support water quality enforcement based on re-institution of monitoring systems previously in place, and runoff testing instead of solely field application amounts.
3. We support completely accessible Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) well data and testing.
4. We support government programs to promote crop diversification.
5. We support limiting the timber reserve program to owners who receive a homestead tax credit for the property involved (2025 SB 17, Sinclair).
6. We support landowners’ property rights.
7. We oppose the use of eminent domain for the misuse of tax dollars for private gain.
Economy, Commerce, & Labor
8. We support paid Family Medical Leave for public employers and private employers with over 50 employees.
Education
9. We support private and charter schools following the same laws and rules as public schools if they receive voucher funds.
Government and Law
10. We support age and term limits for state-level elected offices.
11. We support mail-in voting and restoring a longer number of days (42) for mail voting.
12. We support guaranteed funding for county-level governmental bodies such as hospitals.
13. We support human and civil rights including due process for all genders, all nationalities, and all ethnicities.
Health and Human Services
14. We support better vaccine accessibility.
15. We support renewed full access to tele-health appointments for Medicare recipients.
16. We oppose unfair work documentation requirements for Medicaid recipients.
17. We support the right of adults to make their own medical decisions without government interference.
International Affairs
18. We support human and civil rights for all nationalities and ethnicities.
19. We support international law and the authority of international courts.
20. We oppose acts of war against other nations, regardless of our opinion of their governments, without Congressional authorization.