This story was updated Wednesday, Sept. 11 at 7:50 p.m. to include the Iowa Supreme Court's decision.
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that three Libertarian candidates for Congress cannot be on the ballot in this fall’s election because the Libertarian Party of Iowa failed to follow state law for nominating candidates by convention.
The final decision came two weeks after 1st Congressional District candidate Nicholas Gluba, 3rd District candidate Marco Battaglia and 4th District candidate Charles Aldrich were first kicked off the ballot.
Republican officials on the State Objection Panel removed the Libertarian candidates from the ballot because they held their county conventions the same day as their caucuses and did not report delegates to county auditors.
The candidates appealed, but the Polk County District Court and the Iowa Supreme Court upheld the panel’s decision.
The Iowa Supreme Court rejected the candidates’ argument that substantial compliance with the law was good enough. The Court wrote the candidates could have qualified for the ballot by collecting signatures, but they chose to go the alternate route of the convention process.
“Having done so, they had to be in compliance with that procedure,” the opinion reads. “In sum, like the district court, we find that strict compliance was required and the Libertarian Party did not comply.”
The decision may have taken our names off the ballot, but it will not silence the voices of liberty in Iowa.Jules Cutler, Libertarian Party of Iowa Chair
The Court also said the Libertarians’ First Amendment rights weren’t violated by the panel’s ruling.
“Gluba, Battaglia and Aldrich do not contend that the two-day requirement would have been too burdensome for the Libertarian Party to meet; it just wasn’t met here.”
The Libertarians said they will run for Congress as write-in candidates.
“The decision may have taken our names off the ballot, but it will not silence the voices of liberty in Iowa,” Libertarian Party of Iowa Chair Jules Cutler said in a statement. “We encourage voters to write in our candidates’ names to ensure that liberty and choice are still represented in this election. As seen in the 2020 Miller-Meeks election, seven votes can change the outcome.”
Cutler said Republicans fear the impact of Libertarians being on the ballot in competitive races. The 1st and 3rd District races are seen as competitive this year, and the lack of Libertarian candidates on those ballots could make a difference.
State Auditor Rob Sand, the only Democrat on the State Objection Panel, voted to keep the Libertarians on the ballot.
“Requiring ‘strict compliance’ with election laws written by a two-party system will no doubt smother opposition and prop up that same broken system,” Sand said Wednesday.
Iowa Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday
During oral arguments Tuesday, the Libertarians' lawyers told the Iowa Supreme Court that the State Objection Panel doesn’t have the authority to kick them off the ballot for holding their caucuses and county conventions on the same day rather than waiting until midnight.
“The fundamental question before this court is, 'Does the failure to wait 181 minutes after caucus to begin convention justify kicking Libertarian candidates off the ballot and violating Iowa voters’ constitutional rights to political opportunity?'” said Jennifer De Kock, a lawyer for Battaglia. “We believe that petitioners and precedent say no.”
Will Admussen with the Iowa Attorney General’s office defended the panel’s decision. He said candidate nominating laws are important for narrowing voters’ preferences.
“This massive framework has to have certain timing requirements,” Admussen said. “And 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.”
Admussen said the timing of the conventions was also important because under Iowa law, the county delegates’ terms do not start until the day after the caucuses. He compared the Libertarian county delegates acting 181 minutes before their terms started to newly-elected senators passing laws before their terms begin.
But lawyers for the Libertarians said because they were newly considered a major political party, there were no old delegates who were being replaced, so there was not a problem with newly-elected delegates overlapping old ones.
Alan Ostergren, representing the Republicans who objected to the Libertarians’ ballot qualifications, said candidates have a responsibility to make sure their party follows procedures for ballot access.
“They’re going to hitch their wagon to a lame horse if they don’t do some basic due diligence by making sure the party has done what it is supposed to do,” he said.
After the hearing, Battaglia was asked to respond to that argument. He said he contacted the secretary of state’s office and the other candidates to try to make sure the nominating process was done right.
“I thought I did everything I could as a candidate to make sure things were done the right way,” Battaglia said. “And you know, I think the lawyers did a good job of summing that up.”
Cutler, who is also a lawyer, said Tuesday the party can’t afford to hire an attorney to ensure they follow the law in the future.
“But we do have attorneys who are members of the party, and we are going to sit down and go through the code and be a lot more thorough next time, obviously,” she said.
The Iowa Secretary of State informed the Court that the state had a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday to certify ballots for printing. Chief Justice Susan Christensen said the decision would be issued before that deadline.
The Libertarian Party of Iowa gained major party status in 2022 when their ticket for the gubernatorial race received over 2% of the vote. That year, Rick Stewart and Marco Battaglia ran for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, respectively. They garnered 2.37% of the vote — clearing the way for the party to participate in primary elections and be included as an option for Iowans on voter registration forms this year.
