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KDSN RADIO News
Iowa Supreme Court rules 3 Libertarians didn’t qualify for ballot listing
Libertarian candidates will not be listed on the General Election ballots in Iowa’s first, third, and fourth congressional districts.
The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that the candidates were not properly nominated because the Libertarian Party failed to follow state law in the timing of its county conventions. Will Admussen of the Iowa Attorney General’s office asked the justices to make that decision during legal arguments on Tuesday.
“Even if you’re close to those timing requirements, it’s important to comply strictly with them so elections can run orderly and transparently and fairly,” he said.
The ruling was issued shortly after 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, a few hours before Iowa’s top election official said he had to certify the list of candidates for the November election, so election officials could begin printing ballots. Jules Cutler, chairwoman of the Libertarian Party of Iowa, told reporters on Tuesday her party’s candidates are being punished for starting their county conventions 181 minutes too early.
“We are going to sit down and go through the Code and be a lot more thorough next time, obviously,” Cutler said.
The Libertarian Party held its county conventions right after its caucuses back on January 15th. Libertarian congressional candidates Nicholas Gluba in the first district, Marco Battaglia (but-TAL-ee-uh) in the third district and Charles Aldrich in the fourth district say they will run write-in campaigns since voters won’t see their names printed on ballots. Battaglia said he and the other party’s other two congressional candidates have been unfairly targeted. “I didn’t think we did anything wrong, to tell you the truth,” Battaglia told reporters.
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Iowa election law on candidate qualifications requires “strict compliance” and holding county conventions and caucuses on different days is a “modest burden” for political parties. Republican voters in the first, third, and fourth congressional districts filed the objections that ultimately led to Wednesday’s decision. They did not challenge the process for nominating Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver, so his name will be listed on ballots for this year’s election.
