Downward auroral current regions are characterized by: upflowing field-aligned electrons; transverse ion heating; depleted plasma densities; downward-pointing parallel E-fields and current densities; intense ELF and VLF plasma wave activity; and the absence of hot magnetospheric particles. In this paper, we present a kinetic model that explains all of these features. We imagine a geomagnetic flux tube of finite length imbedded in a downward current region and impose appropriate kinetic boundary conditions. We assume that broadband ELF waves exist on the flux tube and heat the ions by cyclotron resonance near the ion gyrofrequency. We carry out an iterative, steady-state solution for the one-particle distribution functions, f&agr;(s,&ngr;⊥,&ngr;∥), and the self-consistent parallel E-field, E∥(s). When this theory is applied to the Gorney et al. [1985> data set, we find good agreement between theory and experiment for the ion conic, the electron beam, and the downward-pointing E∥(s).