Today is the day Iowa’s Secretary of State certifies which candidates will have their names printed on Iowa ballots for the November election, but three Libertarian Party candidates have gone to court asking for a delay until their legal challenge is resolved.
Last week, a state panel kicked Libertarians running in three Iowa congressional districts off the ballot after Republicans in those areas signed petitions saying the timing of Libertarian Party county conventions did not follow state law. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, a Republican, discussed the decision this weekend during an appearance on “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.
“It’s never easy as a member of the Objections Panel to have to tell someone that they didn’t qualify for the ballot,” Bird said, “but the law applies equally to everybody, every candidate, regardless of their party.”
Bird said Libertarians held their precinct caucuses and county conventions on the same date, which is not allowed under state law. “Just to be clear, everybody gets their day in court, so they can appeal the decision to the district court if they want to, but my position is I’m not going to pick and choose which parts of the Iowa Code are going to apply,” Bird said. “I’m going to uphold the law.”
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, a Republican, joined Bird in voting to remove the Libertarians from this fall’s ballot — while State Auditor Rob Sand, a Democrat who also serves on the panel, voted to keep the Libertarians on it. Sand said the Objection Panel does not have the authority to rule on how a political party conducts its business.
The Iowa Libertarian Party’s chair said the decision to remove her party’s candidates from the ballot is a direct attack on voter choice. The Libertarian Party nominated Nicholas Gluba of Lone Tree to run in Iowa’s first congressional district, Marco Battaglia of Des Moines to run in the third district and Charles Aldrich of Clarion to run in the fourth district.
