Republican officials on Iowa’s state objection panel voted Wednesday to remove all three Libertarian candidates for Congress from the ballot, citing the Libertarian Party of Iowa’s failure to follow state laws concerning the process for nominating political candidates.
The 2-1 vote means 1st Congressional District candidate Nicholas Gluba, 3rd District candidate Marco Battaglia and 4th District candidate Charles Aldrich will not appear on the ballot this fall unless they successfully appeal the decision in court by Sept. 3.
Libertarian Party of Iowa Chair Jules Cutler said they would likely appeal the decision. Cutler said she was disappointed by the decision, but not surprised.
"It is about silencing us,” she said. “Yes, it is about making sure that they are in a better position to win. If you want to win, how about you campaign, not silence other people.”
Gluba, Battaglia and Aldrich said they would run write-in campaigns if they don’t get back on the ballot.
The state objection panel is made up of Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate, Republican Attorney General Brenna Bird and Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand. Pate and Bird voted to remove the Libertarian candidates from the ballot, and Sand voted to keep them on.
Pate said political candidates need to do their homework on what it takes to get on the ballot.
"It’s not an ideal situation, but the rules are the rules,” he said. "And I, as the commissioner of elections, don’t get to make them up. I get to enforce them as they are.”
Republican voters from each of the three congressional districts filed objections to the Libertarians being on the ballot. Alan Ostergren, a prominent Republican lawyer in Iowa, represented the objectors.
He said the Libertarian Party of Iowa’s county conventions were not valid because they were held the same day as its' caucuses. Iowa law says county delegates’ terms start the day after the caucuses.
"his flaw is fatal. It means that the purported delegates to a state and district convention that were selected at the county level were not validly selected on Jan. 15,” Ostergren said. "It means the less than two dozen individuals who met in Des Moines to purport to nominate candidates for these three congressional seats had no legal authority to represent the Libertarian Party of Iowa because they had not done basic organizational steps.”
He also said the party failed to submit lists of delegates to county auditors, as required by state law.
Cutler said the Libertarians held county conventions "181 minutes too early” — meaning they did not wait until midnight after the caucuses to hold the county conventions. She also admitted the party did not submit lists of delegates to county auditors.
But, Cutler said, these should be considered technical violations and are not grounds for kicking people off the ballot.
"It is embarrassing that we didn’t do it. It is a learning process. It is growing pains,” she said. "But at the end of the day, we are substantially compliant with the law.”
Sand, who voted to keep the Libertarians on the ballot, said there is no legal basis for removing candidates from the ballot because of "nitpicky” issues with internal political party business.
"If this panel is making decisions, we are supposed to aim in terms of inclusiveness on the ballot, not trying to exclude people,” he said.
Bird said there is precedent for the state objection panel reviewing nominating conventions. She said she doesn’t want to keep people off the ballot for small technicalities, but there are obligations major political parties have.
"The question I have to think about is which parts of Iowa law are we not supposed to follow, and I know we’re supposed to try to follow all of them,” Bird said.
The state objection panel also unanimously dismissed an objection against Republican Travis Sitzmann’s candidacy for House District 13 in northwest Iowa, leaving him on the ballot.
The objectors, one of whom was no-party House District 13 candidate Parker Hansen, wrote that Sitzmann doesn’t live in the district. The Iowa Constitution requires candidates for the state legislature to reside in the district they are running in for at least 60 days before Election Day, and Sitzmann told the panel he has a lease agreement for a new home in the district that begins Sept. 1.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct the last name of Libertarian Party of Iowa Chair Jules Cutler.
